The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead

DOCUMENTS containing private medical information of 27 patients in the Royal Free Hospital have been found by a member of the public on a bus. The pages contain data of the people on a ward in the hospital.

They were found stapled together and left at the back of the number 1 bus by a Kentish Town resident who handed them into the New Journal office this week.

She said: “It’s terrible. I showed it to my brother and he said why don’t you just throw it away and I said well no they’ve got to learn from it. “I was absolutely flabbergasted that such a ton of information and people’s personal data could be left on a bus like that. It’s very worrying whichever hospital it is. I hope they act on it because it’s not good.”

The woman found the documents on a “shelf” at the back of the bus, which travels from the Royal Free to Canada Water, at around 1pm on Saturday, May 18.

She was travelling with her partner to see a theatre show. Information including full names, date of birth, gender, and past medical history are mentioned in the documents. Sometimes further information of a patient is recorded, including the borough they live in, their housing situation, occupation and carer details.

One patient’s record lists there is a safeguarding concern and “family members are not to be informed of the discharge destination”. It does not mention the address of the new destination she will be sent to.

The documents were printed on May 16 at 4.56am. Typed on each page is “if found please return to the nearest ward clerk”.

In 2011, the New Journal reported that a memory stick containing confidential data on Royal Free patients was handed in to our office after being found near St Stephen’s Church in Pond Street.

A Royal Free London spokesperson said: “We are looking into this as a matter of urgency and would like to apologise to all of those affected. We are grateful to the member of the public who found the notes for bringing this to our attention.”