A Reading GP surgery mistakenly gave a patient’s stool sample to another service user.

Stuck to the used stool sample kit was a label containing some of the patient’s medical information, according to the 32-year-old man who was handed it at South Reading and Shinfield Group Medical Practice.

The kit was supposed to be brand new but when the man, from Shinfield, opened it at home on November 17 he found it had been used.

“I was horrified when I first saw it because I thought something wasn’t quite right and then I saw someone’s name on it and instantly put it away,” said the man, who asked to remain anonymous.

“It’s pretty gross in and of itself and a data breach as well, as it had all their medical information on the label.”

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He claimed the sample was dated as having been taken in early October.

“So it’s been sat in a cupboard for a month and I’ve brought it into my home. Literally, someone’s poo is in my house.”

He said the kit was one of two he had been handed by a person working behind the counter at the surgery, and that the second one was unused.

He returned the used kit to the surgery the following day.

In a statement, South Reading and Shinfield Group Medical Practice said: “We have apologised to the patients concerned and ensured that the issue was dealt with effectively and promptly.

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“We are reviewing the way we manage stool sample tests to maintain our high level of patient care and confidentiality.”

But the man said the mistake was indicative of wider underfunding and understaffing problems within the NHS.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the NHS at the moment and clearly with no more funding coming in its only going to get worse.”

He added: “I’ve been sick for four months now and I just want to get better.”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his autumn statement on Thursday that the health service will receive an extra £3.3 billion in each of the next two years, but this amounts to a real-terms increase of 1.2 per cent, well below the historic average 3.8 per cent rise per year, according to Health Foundation analysis.

Reacting to the budget, Anita Charlesworth, director of the Health Foundation, said: “Without greater recognition that our health is our wealth — and vice versa – and a greater focus on its long-term financial sustainability, the NHS is likely to remain on a crisis footing, with difficult trade-offs like performance and rising waiting lists for the foreseeable future.”