A review of the NHS breach helpline found that staff faced a "significant emotional burden" after being drafted with only a day's notice to handle distressed callers following a data exposure at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust. The breach, disclosed in November 2025, involved an Excel workbook uploaded in response to a Freedom of Information request in February 2023 that retained underlying sickness-absence records for 7,715 staff, 288 non-trust workers and other unidentified individuals. Call handlers dealt with shouting, anger and domestic-abuse concerns without training or a clear safeguarding process, often learning their own data had been exposed minutes before supporting others. The helpline, intended to run for two weeks in December 2025, was extended to 11 weeks, ending in February 2026, and staff worked extra hours and weekends to meet demand. 1