SEVEN tonnes of partly recycled medical records have been used as kentledge to help weigh down a scaffold in Milton Keynes.
Locals have been left ‘disgusted’ after hundreds of thousands of NHS medical records were meant to be shredded but instead placed on a scaffold at an art festival to help stabilize it.
The medical records that include confidential data were only partly destroyed and were still legible, prompting fears of possible identity fraud, reports The Sun.
To make matters worse some of the records had come loose from around 40 bales and were strewn around in the street, visible for people to read.
Aiden Birch, 36, said: “I could see prescription forms and there were clear names and addresses and details of surgery. It is disgusting. You can see people’s private information.”
The freestanding four lift scaffold forms part a sculpture at the annual Festival of Urban Living outside a shopping center in Milton Keynes.
A spokesperson from the scaffolding company who erected the structure told ScaffMag: “The paper bales were a part of the art installation and procured by the council. It was nothing to do with us, we also used concrete ballast to weigh down the scaffold.
We calculated 24 tonnes of kentledge and deducted about 7 tonnes to allow for the paper bales that were procured and delivered by the council as part of the installation, as well as wooden windows and other recycled materials used to construct the artwork.”
Event organisers specified recyclable material should be used to help stabilise the structure from winds. A recycling company in Hertfordshire sent cut and part-shredded paper.
The council was “appalled” at the mishap and said: “We immediately covered the bales and arranged for their removal.”
