£25,000 cost of data fiasco

Hospital bosses have made an embarrassed apology after an investigation into missing data that was never lost.

Whittington hospital in Archway spent £25,000 trying to find four CDs containing personal details of almost 18,000 NHS staff. They said the discs had gone missing after being posted - not sent by courier - to a contractor.

Bosses spent three-and-a-half days holding briefings with workers and sent out more than 14,000 letters to staff. There were fears the information could be used by identity fraudsters. Marked recorded delivery, they were said to have been put in a tray on 22 July but never arrived in the post room.

A staff member has been suspended after the CDs were handed into the finance department by another employee.