REAMS of confidential patient details have been discovered dumped in a Bournemouth alleyway , the Daily Echo can reveal . The black plastic ribbons , which appear to contain counterfoil prescription label information , include patients ' names , dates - of - birth , addresses and doctor details . They also include confidential NHS patient numbers . This find has raised concerns about sensitive information falling into the hands of criminals and prompted the watchdog Healthwatch Dorset to call for an urgent investigation . A number of the black plastic ribbons were discovered by a business owner along Warwick Place , an alleyway adjacent to Christchurch Road , close to Pokesdown railway station . The man , who asked not to be named , collected them up on Thursday . " They were just floating about in the alleyway , " he said . " It was only the second day when I walked past that I noticed the barcode on them . " At first I thought they contained credit card information , but then I realised it was medical information . " So I went along and picked them all up . " After contacting the Echo we took possession of the patient details and have since passed them to the NHS . No medical details were contained on the plastic strips but the information included could easily be used to obtain further forms of false identification . The man who found them said : " I just thought they were strips of bin bags at first , they 'd been there for at least a couple of days . " There is a lot of information , date of birth , names , addresses and NHS numbers . This information in the wrong hands could be used for all sorts . " Healthwatch Dorset manager Martyn Webster said it was very worrying to hear that the information had been found in the street . " There needs to be an urgent investigation to discover how this happened and the public needs to know that steps have been taken to make sure it never happens again , " he stressed . After handing over the ribbons to a health service representative a NHS spokesman told the Echo they would now investigate the issue . ;