Thousands of medical records were lost during flooding at a hospital earlier this year, according to a health board.

Fire crews were called to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary when the basement filled with water following torrential rain.

Despite the efforts of the fire service and the use of a specialist pump to divert the water, the area, which contained a records library, was flooded on July 7.

In total, 8,100 records could not be restored - between 2% and 3% of those held in the area, NHS Grampian said.

The damaged paper records involve only handwritten notes about hospital stays and those patients affected have been contacted, the health board confirmed.

Health chiefs said 70-80% of a patient's records are now held electronically and are "completely unaffected".

"I understand this will cause some concern to those people affected and we apologise unreservedly," said chief executive Malcolm Wright.

"I would seek to reassure these patients, however, that this issue affects only the handwritten part of their notes relating to hospital stays - it will have no adverse impact on the care we are able to provide now or in the future.

"In the main, a person's hospital medical record is now held electronically - including all GP-related letters, hospital diagnostic test results and correspondence. All of these records are unaffected."

NHS Grampian said an investigation was carried out and it has been established the damage was caused by a combination of adverse weather and earlier building maintenance work carried out by an independent contractor.

Mr Wright added: "The majority of the records concerned are handwritten, administrative notes relating to a patient's stay in hospital - a typical example would be whether a patient had a comfortable night.

"Usually these records are destroyed six years after the last contact, which is in line with record management retention schedules and policies.

"Measures are being taken to ensure patients whose records have been destroyed are flagged on electronic systems to ensure clinicians providing treatment are aware of the position but, again, we need to be absolutely clear this is as a precaution and will not affect their future care."