--- title: IT mistake erases 11 years of viewing history for... description: Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust lost 11 years of maternity record access-viewing history after an IT worker ran a database-copy script intended for a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/it-mistake-erases-11-years-of-viewing-history-for-hospitals-maternity-records-mbrfquqol twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: IT mistake erases 11 years of viewing history for hospitals’ maternity records | daily.dev og:description: Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust lost 11 years of maternity record access-viewing history after an IT worker ran a database-copy script intended for a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/it-mistake-erases-11-years-of-viewing-history-for-hospitals-maternity-records-mbrfquqol og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/mbrFQUqOL.png og:image:alt: IT mistake erases 11 years of viewing history for hospitals’ maternity records og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # IT mistake erases 11 years of viewing history for hospitals’ maternity records **[Ars Technica](https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust lost 11 years of maternity record access-viewing history after an IT worker ran a database-copy script intended for a radiotherapy system against a maternity database instead. The pre-written script, originally built for a different hospital system, had a setting that should have been updated but was missed, causing the maternity records database to be overwritten. Patient care data such as notes, observations, and test results was recovered, but the audit trail showing who viewed maternity records between September 2011 and November 2022 could not be fully restored. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What caused Nottingham University Hospitals to lose 11 years of maternity record viewing history? A human error during routine IT work caused a database-copy script to run against a maternity database instead of its intended target, a radiotherapy database. The script had previously been used for a different hospital system, and a setting that needed to be changed before running it was missed, so the process overwrote the maternity records database instead of copying the radiotherapy data as planned. _Teams hardening database migration scripts against config mistakes can find similar incident writeups on daily.dev._ ### What data was lost in the Nottingham University Hospitals maternity database incident? The overwritten database held maternity records for women and babies treated by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust from September 2011 to November 2022. Specifically, the history showing who viewed those maternity records during that period could not be fully restored, though patient care data like notes, observations, and test results was recovered with help from external specialists. _Anyone tracking healthcare data-loss incidents and recovery outcomes follows similar reports on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Scot NHS Trust probes email stuffup involving maternity patients' data](https://daily.dev/posts/scot-nhs-trust-probes-email-stuffup-involving-maternity-patients-data-th7zl4n4n) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Woman bailed as cops probe doctor's surgery data breach](https://daily.dev/posts/woman-bailed-as-cops-probe-doctor-s-surgery-data-breach-7rzwbt7zm) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [15.8M medical records stolen from French health ministry](https://daily.dev/posts/15-8m-medical-records-stolen-from-french-health-ministry-wf933jtn2) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [NHS England admits it hid Palantir’s access to patient data](https://daily.dev/posts/nhs-england-admits-it-hid-palantir-s-access-to-patient-data-xqmhhar8a) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#database](https://daily.dev/tags/database), [#healthcare](https://daily.dev/tags/healthcare) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/it-mistake-erases-11-years-of-viewing-history-for-hospitals-maternity-records-mbrfquqol) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"IT mistake erases 11 years of viewing history for hospitals’ maternity records","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-mistake-erases-11-years-of-viewing-history-for-hospitals-maternity-records-mbrfquqol","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-mistake-erases-11-years-of-viewing-history-for-hospitals-maternity-records-mbrfquqol"},"datePublished":"2026-09-22T17:44:49.083Z","dateModified":"2026-09-22T17:45:10.621Z","description":"Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust lost 11 years of maternity record access-viewing history after an IT worker ran a database-copy script intended for a...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/15da09e00410966d5c4124913da30970?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/15da09e00410966d5c4124913da30970?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Ars Technica","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Ars Technica","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/80883e0e48a34b5ebcf93777016cb3fe","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-mistake-erases-11-years-of-viewing-history-for-hospitals-maternity-records-mbrfquqol","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"database,healthcare","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ars Technica","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"IT mistake erases 11 years of viewing history for hospitals’ maternity records"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-mistake-erases-11-years-of-viewing-history-for-hospitals-maternity-records-mbrfquqol#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What caused Nottingham University Hospitals to lose 11 years of maternity record viewing history?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A human error during routine IT work caused a database-copy script to run against a maternity database instead of its intended target, a radiotherapy database. The script had previously been used for a different hospital system, and a setting that needed to be changed before running it was missed, so the process overwrote the maternity records database instead of copying the radiotherapy data as planned. Teams hardening database migration scripts against config mistakes can find similar incident writeups on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What data was lost in the Nottingham University Hospitals maternity database incident?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The overwritten database held maternity records for women and babies treated by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust from September 2011 to November 2022. Specifically, the history showing who viewed those maternity records during that period could not be fully restored, though patient care data like notes, observations, and test results was recovered with help from external specialists. Anyone tracking healthcare data-loss incidents and recovery outcomes follows similar reports on daily.dev."}}]} ```