Regret at medical papers in skip

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A company says it regrets an incident that led to people's medical details being left in two recycling skips.

Adkins Medical Market Research said the documents were accidently picked up by contractors as it moved offices.

They were recovered by Pembrokeshire county council workers and taken away to be shredded.

The company, specialists in medical research for the healthcare industry, said once it was aware, it took every step to rectify the issue.

Managing director Jack Adkins said he was not exactly certain what information was contained in the documents, which had been stored in the cellar of their previous office.

"We were moving offices in Pembroke Dock and during the move and general clear-out, papers were picked up by a company that should not have been," he said.

I do regret that this has happened Jack Adkins

"We do have procedures in place, but in the mayhem of the move these documents were mixed up with general office papers and were accidentally taken for recycling.

"It was a very unfortunate occurrence and as soon as I became aware of what had happened I took every step to ensure they were correctly disposed of.

"They should not have been taken but because of the confusion they were accidentally taken and the company did not realise what they were.

"I do regret that this has happened."

Pembrokeshire council said it was alerted to a large number of what appeared to be medical documents overflowing from waste paper recycling bins in Neyland.

"We immediately sent an employee to the scene and they decided the recycling bins were not the appropriate location for such papers," said a spokesman.

"As a result, we made immediate arrangements for the bins be taken into secure storage at our depot in Milford Haven.

"The papers were later disposed of as confidential waste."