Nine-year-old Minnie Merriman, from West Yorkshire, died at Ninewells Hospital after being found seriously injured on the Elliot industrial estate in Arbroath on 3 August.

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: ‘NHS Tayside is currently investigating the circumstances of an alleged data breach which happened in a working clinical area where staff access patient information.

‘As a matter of governance, any data protection breach would be recorded and investigated by NHS Tayside and, where appropriate, reported to the ICO. It would not be appropriate for us to comment further on individual staffing matters.'

There have been a number of investigations into staff inappropriately accessing patient records in recent months.

Over a dozen staff were found to have inappropriately accessed patients records in the last five years at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

In June, Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) referred itself to the ICO after staff accessed the patient record of a three-year-old who was attacked by crocodiles.

In May, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust sacked 11 staff members for inappropriate access of the medical records of the victims of Nottingham killer, Valdo Calocane.

NHS England announced in July that staff who inappropriately access patient data face the sack or prison.