A man found more than he bargained for when he bought a second-hand cabinet in an Antrim charity shop – and found a patient’s medical file inside.

The file was wedged under a jammed drawer in the cabinet, which was bought for £25 from the shop.

The man who made the discovery told a local newspaper which then passed the file on to local councillor Drew Richie, who handed it to the Northern Health Trust. The Trust is to launch an investigation into the matter.

Mr Richie was shocked that such a file could be lost in this way: "These type of things shouldn't happen."

The Trust said they were grateful the file had been returned.

"We will be investigating the circumstances around the loss of the file and will be informing the individual concerned and their family and all appropriate authorities," a statement from the trust said.

However it added "we strongly feel that the correct thing to have done in this situation would have been to return the file to any Trust office or facility, a local GP, the police or indeed a public representative and not to a local newspaper".

(NSlev)