Medical records stolen from jabs-row doctor

Dr David Pugh said records giving names and details of children inoculated with the vaccines in sessions in Sheffield and Hertfordshire had disappeared from his offices when they were besieged by hundreds of frantic parents worried over claims the jabs were ineffective and could even pose a danger.
Police are now investigating the theft which leaves Lifeline Care Ltd with no record of which patients had the £75-a-shot jabs under scrutiny.
All 1,013 parents of children given the inoculations under question, including 718 in Sheffield, have already been sent letters warning them of the possible problem.
But following the theft, the clinic is offering all parents whose children were inoculated between June and December last year a blood test or repeat injection free of charge. An estimated 1,500 children are believed to have been vaccinated during that period in Sheffield.
The Yorkshire Post can also reveal the clinic – due to return to Sheffield later this month – yesterday had its contract terminated by Hillsborough Arena. All future sessions there have been cancelled.
Dr Pugh, who runs Lifeline Care Ltd, said the records disappeared amid chaotic scenes at his Hertfordshire-based medical centre which was inundated with 300 parents.
Some had even travelled from Yorkshire, such was the concern over the scare which had led to several of his staff receiving death threats, he said.
A dossier containing names, addresses, dates of birth of patients and their vaccination histories including information about those believed to have been given the jabs under question was grabbed from receptionists on Tuesday.
Late in the day he had received a demand from public health officials asking for the patient database which they apparently wanted to check.
He said he spoke to his insurers from the Medical Defence Union who advised him not to hand it over but to make sure it was intact. It was then it was found to have gone, he said.
Dr Pugh said it was the only record of patients the clinic had. No details had been transferred to computers which he said were "prone to failure". The theft was reported to the police the next day.
"My staff were trying to deal with people in an orderly fashion but they were faced with 300 sets of parents all worried sick and demanding reassurances," he said.
"Several times the book containing the details was snatched and passed around before it could be retrieved but it seems it was spirited away. It is sensitive and I'm sorry this has happened. My staff were being physically threatened.
"We cannot compile another database of names unless we can retrieve it."
Dr Pugh maintained the vaccines had been safely administered.
He had carried out 100 blood tests on children in the last week and only one had shown a problem with immunity which was in line with guidelines which said vaccines were 98.7 per cent effective.
A Hertfordshire Police spokeswoman confirmed a complaint had been made about the theft of patient names and details and an investigation was under way.
Hillsborough Sports Arena Sports Association said in a statement that it had been made aware Dr Pugh was not registered with the watchdog the National Care Standards Commission and had decided to cancel all future lettings.
Dr Pugh said he had not been informed he needed to register with the commission, blaming the watchdog for failing to notify him. His company is believed to be the first found operating outside the regulatory framework which came into force last April to improve standards in private healthcare.
mike.waites@ypn.co.uk