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A computer tape with medical records of more than 8,000 patients has disappeared en route from Northern Ireland,to England, it was revealed today.

It was sent from the Garden Street doctors’ surgery in Magherafelt, Co Derry, to an IT company in London which was updating the practice’s system.

A courier picked up the details on December 5 but they never arrived.

Dr Ben Glancy from the practice said: “We have been advised that it is extremely unlikely that anyone’s medical records could be read.

“The computer tape is security protected and requires a specialist programme which is normally only used by GPs and the data verification company in order to make any sense of the information on the tape.

“There is no suggestion that the tape has been stolen.”

The surgery, within the Northern Health and Social Services Board, is moving to a new IT systems provider, In Practice Systems (INPS).

Courier company City Link was supposed to take the tape to INPS’ headquarters in London but has been unable to trace its whereabouts.

Tape is only used on rare occasions when it isn’t possible to transfer certain volumes of data but was necessary because of the IT system change over.

The Information Commissioner’s office in Northern Ireland has been informed.