The confidential medical file of a mental health patient has been found dropped in the street.
Anthony Barrett was taking his two Rottweilers for their morning walk when he discovered the file in a gutter in Sandford Road, near Littlemore mental hospital.
He has now returned the papers to hospital managers, who have launched an inquiry into how the file - which contained the man's medical history, information that he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and letters from Thames Valley Police about him - came to be ditched.
Mr Barrett, a father-of-three, said: "I have never had mental health problems myself, but I do sympathise with the people who go there, and I was amazed to find this file."
Helen Miller, a spokesman for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust, said: "This concerns us a great deal and we will be undertaking an in-depth investigation.
"The last thing we want is for patients' confidentiality to be put at risk."
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