A HEALTH trust boss has said she was "staggered" to learn of secret listening devices being installed in a hospital to probe allegations of sectarianism.
Brenda Creaney, director of nursing at the Belfast trust, also said the lack of a paper trail "at every stage" of a controversial covert operation was "unacceptable".
Leaked recordings of a private meeting held five weeks ago give an insight into the shock felt across trust management at a catalogue of failings revealed by an independent report about surveillance of security guards at Belfast City Hospital.
"I received this report on a Friday at 5.15pm - when I read it I said to her (a human resources manager), 'Tell me that's not right'. I was shocked," Ms Creaney said.
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Hidden cameras and a microphone were placed in a private rest room area of the security department seven years ago following claims of sectarianism including death threats and bullets being sent to the home of a Catholic employee.
Comments reportedly overheard at the hospital had also included "Michael Stone is my hero" and "The only good Catholic is dead one", and it was alleged wooden pallets were "left out" by some security guards for a loyalist bonfire.
CCTV footage and audio were downloaded onto a laptop - that is now missing.
No disciplinary action was ever taken as a result of the operation.
Ms Creaney, who is responsible for managing all security staff across the trust, met with two employees who had been unknowingly filmed to discuss a scathing independent report given to the trust in January this year.
One worker with more than 30 years' experience told the nursing chief he was "gutted" to learn about the placement of listening devices in a private area and that he had "lost interest" in coming to work.
She replied: "I'm sorry to hear that... and I don't mind sharing with you when I read this report that's the thing that shocked me most - I am aware we use CCTV but the listening approach, it really staggered me."
Asked about what material was on the laptop, she told them: "The laptop is missing... I don't what's on the laptop, it cannot be located. We weren't able to ascertain in the course of this where it has gone.
"We have made a submission to Information Commissioner because the loss of information is a very serious data breach. They may well come back and investigate us further - we're expecting that. Any information, whether it’s paper, mobile phone or indeed a laptop, if it goes missing, we're obliged to report that.
"We've also advised the Department of Health there's been a data breach because that’s very serious."
The independent report highlights "major concerns" about how trust bosses authorised the secret surveillance - it was done by a phone call - and pointed to potentially serious breaches of data protection laws.
It was commissioned by the trust last year after a whistleblower alerted security guards last summer that they had been secretly filmed in 2012.
During a 70-minute meeting which took place on February 25, the two men asked how many staff were aware of the monitoring.
Ms Creaney said she "believed" it was only three people - and insisted she had no knowledge of it.
She accepted there was very little documentation about such a serious investigation and that it had been a "huge learning curve", with a "robust policy" now being developed to ensure such a breach doesn't happen again.
"There was a lack of paperwork at every stage of the process which is not acceptable from a governance point of view," she said.
"...Certainly there has been huge learning in relation to this. I’m very happy to acknowledge and apologise that I personally do not feel that the use of CCTV in a rest room nor indeed a listening device was appropriate.
"However there are occasions when the use of CCTV is appropriate but it should be covered in policy - there are occasions when we need it to fact find."
Last month it emerged the Information Commissioner has ordered an "enforcement investigation" into the Belfast trust following its loss of "sensitive personal data" linked to the covert probe.
