A health service provider that offers remote consultations with doctors has apologised after its GP video appointment app suffered a data breach.

Babylon Health, which has more than 2.3 million registered users in the UK, admitted that a patient had accessed the introduction of another patient’s consultation recording.

The firm said only a small group of people were affected by the problem which they say has now been resolved.

This was the result of a software error rather than a malicious attack.

Babylon, which allows members to speak to doctors and other health specialists via video call, said the issue came about due to a new feature where people who booked an audio-only consultation that day then switched to video.

A spokesman for Babyon said: “On the afternoon of Tuesday 9th June we identified and resolved an issue within two hours whereby one patient accessed the introduction of another patient’s consultation recording.

“Our investigation showed that two other patients, who had booked and had appointments today, were incorrectly presented with, but did not view, recordings of other patients’ consultations through a subsection of the user’s profile within the Babylon App.

“This was the result of a software error rather than a malicious attack. The problem was identified and resolved quickly.

“Of course we take any security issue, however small, very seriously and have contacted the patients affected to update, apologise to and support where required.

“We proactively notified the Information Commissioner’s Office and will share all the necessary information around this.

“Affected users were in the UK only and this did not impact our international operations.”