Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust

#Introduction

Security in the NHS has changed considerably. CCTV is no longer simply about watching entrances, corridors and car parks. Body-worn video, increasingly sophisticated surveillance systems and the growing volume of digital evidence have created a much more complex picture.

At the same time, the information captured by security systems has become increasingly sensitive. A few minutes of hospital CCTV can contain the identities, movements and interactions of patients, visitors, staff and members of the public. Body-worn video can add conversations and highly personal situations to that picture.

For NHS organisations, the challenge is therefore twofold. They need surveillance to protect people, investigate incidents and provide evidence. But they also have a responsibility to protect the privacy and dignity of the people appearing in that footage.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) makes the point clearly. Organisations using surveillance systems need to consider not just the technical capability of their cameras but also governance, retrieval, security and the ability to redact third-party information when footage is disclosed.

Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust has been thinking about security balance for many years.

With a 420-bed general and acute hospital with around 4,200 staff and daily footfall of more than 5,000 people, the Trust has developed a best-in-class approach to security. It sees itself as critical national infrastructure, comparable in its importance to a transport or energy hub. Protecting the hospital sites means protecting the people who depend on it.

That viewpoint has led Barnsley to become an early adopter of security technology while putting equally strong emphasis on governance, accountability and assurance.

It is against this background of excellence that the Trust selected Facit's Identity Cloak as its video redaction solution.

For Michael Lees, Head of Business Security, and Lisa Corbridge, Head of Operational Security, the decision to use Identity Cloak was a natural fit: a highly mature NHS security operation working with a specialist video redaction technology designed to deal with the complexities of modern surveillance.

The changing NHS security and video landscape

The NHS is operating in an environment in which security, privacy and data protection increasingly overlap.

CCTV and body-worn cameras can provide invaluable evidence when something goes wrong. A slip, trip or fall, an incident in a car park, an allegation involving a member of staff or an assault can all result in requests for video footage.

Increasingly, those requests can arrive through subject access requests (SARs), from solicitors and insurers or as part of investigations and claims.

The ICO recognises that video constitutes personal data and that organisations need to redact information about other people before footage is disclosed. It specifically identifies blurring and masking as appropriate techniques and says organisations should choose surveillance systems with the ability to retrieve and redact footage efficiently.

There is also a wider security context. The NHS has to think about physical security, personnel security, cyber security, resilience and the protection of critical infrastructure as interconnected issues rather than separate disciplines.

Integration is a focus of the National Protective Security Authority's Protective Security Management System (PSeMS), which provides a structured approach to security governance, risk management, performance monitoring and assurance. NPSA describes PSeMS as a framework for coordinating governance, legal requirements, operating procedures, delivery, monitoring, review and audit.

Barnsley has embraced precisely this joined-up philosophy.

The Trust's security model has evolved over many years and has been recognised for its diligence and effectiveness at government level. Its Protective Services Model was established around five years ago and brought together different elements of security into a more integrated approach.

An integrated approach to security matters because video redaction is not an isolated technical task. Redaction is part of the wider responsibility of an NHS organisation to be able to demonstrate why information was captured, who can access it, how it is handled and why it is safe to disclose.

#Challenges: protecting people while preserving evidence

Barnsley does not use video redaction software every day. In fact, that makes the capability more important rather than less.

When the Trust needs to redact video, the material is usually important.

A typical request might relate to an incident in a car park, a slip, trip or fall, a health and safety matter or a civil claim. Family members may request footage because they are unhappy with the service received by a relative. Insurance companies and solicitors can also become involved.

The nature of the NHS means that the people appearing in these recordings can be particularly vulnerable. Hospital populations frequently include people experiencing health inequalities, social deprivation or difficult personal circumstances. Protecting their privacy and dignity is therefore not simply a technical compliance exercise.

There is another issue. The world is becoming increasingly litigious. The growth of claims culture, including the widespread availability of no-win, no-fee legal services, means organisations can find themselves having to investigate increasingly detailed allegations.

For Barnsley, video evidence can play an important role in establishing what actually happened.

That can work both ways. Footage can support a legitimate claim, but it can also help to distinguish a genuine incident from an inaccurate or potentially fraudulent one.

The Trust has encountered situations where a series of claims has been made around an alleged malfunctioning car park barrier. Having reliable video evidence can help to establish the facts and potentially prevent unnecessary costs.

Fact finding makes effective redaction more than a privacy tool. It can become a significant cost-saving and risk-management measure.

#The challenge of body-worn video

Barnsley's history with body-worn cameras illustrates its approach particularly well.

The Trust introduced body-worn cameras for security staff more than ten years ago, which makes it an NHS pioneer. Indeed, Barnsley introduced the technology around three years before South Yorkshire Police.

But the Trust did not simply adopt the technology because it was available.

It considered the legal and governance assurances that needed to accompany body worn cameras. When the Home Office established the Surveillance Camera Commissioners Office under Tony Porter, Barnsley became a voluntary adopter of the scheme.

The objective was straightforward: to demonstrate that surveillance was being used proportionately, legally and only when necessary. That combination of innovation and stringent governance has remained central to Barnsley's approach.

The Trust was similarly conscious of the implications when body-worn cameras were considered for nursing staff. Once nurses began using body-worn video, the potential for SARs involving highly sensitive footage increased considerably.

Redaction was no longer a useful additional capability. It became essential.

Solution: a redaction capability that matches the security model

Image of a hospital hallway showing doctors, nurses and patients with all staff heads redacted and a patient in a wheelchair left unreacted.

Barnsley's security team looked closely at the redaction capabilities already available within its camera systems.

Lisa Corbridge identified an important limitation. The redaction functionality built into cameras was not sufficiently sophisticated for the Trust's requirements.

The answer was to look for the best available specialist redaction technology.

That search led to Facit's Identity Cloak.

The attraction was not simply that Identity Cloak could blur faces. It was the combination of automated tracking, redaction flexibility and the ability to deal with different forms of personally identifiable information.

Video can contain faces, bodies, vehicle registration plates and other identifying information. Identity Cloak enables the Trust to choose how these elements are treated rather than applying a crude one-size-fits-all approach.

The ability to upload CCTV and body-worn camera footage and process it within a dedicated redaction environment has given Barnsley a level of control that is difficult to achieve with basic camera-based tools.

Lisa particularly values the screen recording capability. When dealing with lengthy or complex footage, being able to create a clear extract with time and date information makes it considerably easier to demonstrate what has happened.

The solution also provides a route to audio redaction should the Trust need it more extensively in future. That is increasingly relevant as body-worn cameras and other surveillance systems capture both images and sound.

Most importantly, the technology fits into Barnsley's wider philosophy.

The Trust considers itself the owner of its data and takes responsibility for that data from cradle to grave.

That means being able to answer a simple but fundamental question: can we demonstrate that we have handled this information properly?

Identity Cloak gives the security team another important part of that answer.

#Results: compliance assurance as much as operational efficiency

For Barnsley, the results of using Identity Cloak are not measured simply in minutes saved.

The software provides something arguably more valuable: confidence.

The Trust operates strict audits around security governance. Being able to demonstrate that video has been handled through a controlled, repeatable redaction process provides reassurance to security teams, senior management, the Board and the Chief Executive.

Controlled redaction strengthens the Trust's ability to respond when footage needs to be shared.

Rather than asking whether footage can be released, the question becomes how it should be processed so that the legitimate information can be provided while protecting everyone else appearing in it.

This is exactly the balance expected by the ICO, which says that surveillance systems should support timely retrieval and, where necessary, redaction of third-party information.

Security innovation with governance built in

The Barnsley approach is particularly interesting because innovation and governance are not treated as opposing forces.

The Trust has a long record of adopting new technology early, from body-worn cameras to its wider integrated security model.

It has also developed a 360-degree approach to security that covers physical and cyber risks alongside technology, people, processes and resilience.

Barnsley’s integrated approach is consistent with the NPSA's view that effective protective security needs to consider physical, personnel and cyber elements as complementary rather than isolated disciplines.

Barnsley also scans the horizon for emerging threats.

The introduction of Martyn's Law, formally the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, is one example of the changing expectations around security and resilience. Statutory guidance was published by the Home Office in 2026.

For Barnsley, much of this thinking is already embedded within its established security culture.

The Trust's use of NPSA guidance and PSeMS principles provides a strong assurance framework, while its access to NPSA resources and its mature security governance mean that new requirements can be incorporated into an existing system rather than bolted on afterwards.

A security partnership rather than simply a product

Barnsley's relationship with Facit has now extended over several years.

That longevity is significant. For a Trust with such stringent requirements, a technology that fails to evolve would quickly become a problem.

Instead, the Trust highlights the ongoing support it receives from the Facit team and the clarity of the product roadmap.

This matters because surveillance itself is evolving.

Higher-resolution cameras, body-worn video, longer recordings and the increasing use of digital evidence all create new possibilities. They also create new responsibilities.

The redaction software therefore needs to evolve alongside the organisation using it.

Barnsley's experience of Identity Cloak is that it does.

Healthcare nurse wearing blue scrubs and redacted by Facit's full body blur.

#Conclusion

Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust offers an interesting lesson for NHS organisations considering video redaction.

The lesson is not simply that good software makes redaction easier.

It is that technology is most effective when it forms part of a mature security and governance framework.

Barnsley has spent years developing a security culture based on innovation, joined-up thinking and rigorous assurance. It has been prepared to adopt technologies such as body-worn video ahead of many other NHS organisations, but it has always asked the difficult questions about legality, proportionality, privacy and accountability.

That philosophy extends to video redaction.

The Trust recognises just how much information a few minutes of video can convey. In some circumstances, video can tell a more complete story than pages of medical records. That makes the responsibility to protect it particularly important.

For Michael Lees, the principle is simple: preserve people's privacy and dignity at all costs.

The Trust challenges anyone who cannot demonstrate a proper legal basis for releasing information, regardless of their position or status.

Identity Cloak provides the technology to support that principle.

Identity Cloak enables Barnsley to preserve the evidential value of CCTV and body-worn video while protecting the identities of people who should not be disclosed. In doing so, it reinforces the Trust's wider security model.

Barnsley provides a good example of what happens when a best-in-class NHS security operation meets specialist technology built around the same principles: protect the people, protect the information and always be able to demonstrate that you have done both.

FAQs

Why does an NHS Trust need video redaction software?

CCTV and body-worn video can contain information about many people who are not the subject of a request. When footage is released following a subject access request or for another legitimate purpose, third-party identities need to be obscured. Specialist redaction software makes this process more controlled, consistent and auditable.

What types of NHS footage may need to be redacted?

Requests can involve CCTV from hospital buildings, entrances, corridors and car parks as well as body-worn video. Footage may relate to accidents, security incidents, allegations involving staff or visitors, complaints, civil claims or subject access requests.

Why isn't camera-based redaction always sufficient?

The redaction tools built into individual camera systems can be limited. Complex scenes may contain multiple people, moving subjects and other identifying information such as vehicle registration plates. Specialist software can provide greater flexibility and more sophisticated automated tracking.

Can video redaction help with NHS litigation and insurance claims?

Yes. Video evidence can help establish what actually happened during an incident and can be relevant to claims involving accidents, personal injury or alleged service failures. Redaction enables relevant evidence to be shared while protecting the identities of unrelated people.

Does video redaction only apply to CCTV?

No. Body-worn video is increasingly important in healthcare security. Depending on the system and the circumstances, audio may also contain personal information that needs to be considered. The ICO specifically identifies body-worn video as a surveillance technology that requires appropriate governance, secure storage, retrieval and consideration of redaction.

What should NHS organisations consider when choosing a video redaction solution?

The technology is only one part of the decision. NHS organisations should consider security, governance, auditability, ease of retrieval, the ability to redact both visual and audio information when required and whether the solution fits within their existing data protection and security processes.

Why did Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust choose Facit Identity Cloak?

The Trust was looking for a specialist solution capable of delivering better results than the redaction functionality available within its camera systems. Identity Cloak provided automated tracking, flexibility around the information being redacted and a workflow that fitted Barnsley's emphasis on security governance and assurance.