ALMOST 300 patient details lost from West Kent hospitals are among 168,000 missing nationally, it has emerged.

A total of 284 patients’ details went missing in two separate incidents admitted by the Maidstone and Tunbridge NHS Trust.

In the first, revealed in the Kent Messenger last week, a memory stick containing the details of 40 patients, was found in the car park of Morrisons supermarket, Maidstone.

In the second, earlier this month, a memory stick, which has not yet been found, was lost, containing information about 244 people being treated at the Peggy Wood Breast Care Centre at Maidstone Hospital.

See Friday's Kent Messenger for full story.