LAPTOPS reportedly containing the personal details of nearly nine million patients have been lost by a north London health authority.

Managers at NHS North Central London – which covers the boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington - have started an investigation after 20 laptops were lost three weeks ago.

According to a national newspaper, one of the laptops – which was used to analyse health needs of patients – contained unnamed sensitive details of 8.63 million people, as well as records of 18 million hospital visits.

The health authority has yet to confirm or deny the claims, but confirmed it has informed the Information Commissioner of a loss of data.

In a statement, it said: “All the laptops were password protected and our policy is to manually delete the data from laptops after the records have been processed.

“NHS North Central London operates under strict data protection guidance and is taking the matter extremely seriously.

“We have started an investigation into the issues raised by the loss.”

Of the 20 missing computers, eight have now been recovered, according to the national newspaper report.

In a statement, the Information Commissioner's Office said: “Any allegation that sensitive personal information has been compromised is concerning and we will now make enquiries to establish the full facts of this alleged data breach.”