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Overcoming Data Privacy Challenges: The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Facit’s Identity Cloak

How The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Overcame Data Privacy Challenges and Protected Staff Time with Facit’s Identity Cloak
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Overview 

Serving a population of nearly half a million people, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust is one of the largest providers of acute and community healthcare in the West Midlands. It operates across major sites such as New Cross, West Park and Cannock Chase hospitals, alongside more than 20 community locations.

With a diverse workforce of over 11,000 staff, the Trust is the largest employer in Wolverhampton. Its commitment to patient care is grounded in a clear vision:

“To deliver exceptional care together to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities.”

But behind the scenes, delivering care at this scale comes with complex operational, security and legal responsibilities – especially when it involves data protection and handling video footage requests under GDPR.

“We were at the point where we couldn’t respond to SARs compliantly,” Thomas says. “But under GDPR you can’t just say no because redaction is difficult.”

The Challenge: Hospitals are Pressure Cookers

Thomas Bishop, Deputy Head of Security & Car Parking at the Trust, describes hospitals – especially Emergency Departments – as “pressure cooker environments.” At any given moment, clinical areas are full of people of all ages, backgrounds, emotional states and temperaments. Long waits, high stress and medical emergencies only heighten the tension.

Unfortunately, staff abuse is not uncommon. The Trust’s experience mirrors national figures released by NHS England in 2024:

  • 1 in 7 NHS workers (14.38%) have faced physical violence

  • 8.82% have reported unwanted sexual behaviour

  • 25.08% have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse

These statistics aren’t just numbers – they’re real incidents, often captured by CCTV and body-worn cameras.

Managing and safeguarding this footage is critical – not just to maintain public trust but to meet strict GDPR requirements.

Data Protection a High Priority for the Trust

As in any clinical environment, the Trust views data protection as an extremely high priority. Whether the data involves patient records, clinician notes, information on computer screens or video recordings, GDPR compliance is an ever-present consideration.

Beyond maintaining the trust of the public, the Trust want to avoid damage to its reputation, potential legal proceedings and the involvement of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The GDPR Dilemma

When individuals request access to their personal data – known as a Subject Access Request (SAR) – the Trust is legally obliged to respond. But sharing video footage isn’t as simple as clicking “send.”

Under GDPR, anyone identifiable in the footage other than the requestor must be redacted.

The Trust must therefore mask every face, badge or other identifier, frame by frame, which is a time-consuming task, especially when footage is recorded in busy hospital environments.

In the past, the Trust had trialled several redaction tools but found that most were slow, unreliable or too complex for real-world hospital use. The video redaction process became so cumbersome that staff were taken away from core operational duties.

“We were at the point where we couldn’t respond to SARs compliantly,” Thomas says. “But under GDPR you can’t just say no because redaction is difficult.”

Healthcare nurse in Facit's full body blur.

A Turning Point: Finding the Right Redaction Tool

The tipping point came when the Trust was hit with a complex SAR involving months of footage, legal proceedings and an injunction. It became clear that a scalable and efficient redaction solution wasn’t optional; it was essential.

After evaluating the market, the Trust chose Facit’s Identity Cloak, an AI-powered video redaction platform ideal for sensitive, data-rich environments like healthcare.

The results were immediate.

“Identity Cloak’s screen recorder has been a blessing,” says Thomas. “It solves one of our biggest problems by standardising our CCTV footage so it’s viewable by recipients without technical headaches.”

Results: Faster Redaction, More Confidence, Better Use of Time

Since implementing Identity Cloak, the Trust has seen:

  • Rapid compliance
    Staff can now process and respond to SARs quickly and accurately.

  • Time saved
    Busy teams no longer have to spend hours redacting footage manually.

  • Legal protection
    The Trust is better equipped to handle high-stakes requests and avoid regulatory risks.

  • Training value
    The team are exploring using redacted real-world footage to support staff education and performance training.

Another useful feature has been the video trimming tool which simplifies the editing of long clips in which the subject moves in and out of frame and appears only intermittently.

Frequency and Types of Video Data Requests

Although the Trust receives a relatively low number of video SARs, some can be highly sensitive or involve multiple concurrent requests, triggered variously by patient complaints, legal cases or insurance claims.

Individuals make SARs when making complaints about treatment within the organisation. Legal representatives make data requests involving slips, trips and falls. Insurance companies make requests for video involving knocks and bumps in more than 55 acres of car parks at the Trust’s acute sites.

In any situation, the Trust is well placed to process video footage quickly and compliantly within the ICO’s timescales.

Having a redaction system in place means the Trust is ready for anything - even when the stakes are high or the footage spans multiple sites and days.

Next Steps

The success of Identity Cloak has led the Trust to look at further uses. Redacted videos are now being considered as training tools to build situational awareness among frontline staff and improve safety protocols.

Identity Cloak has proven to deliver more than compliance. It’s delivered best practice data protection for patients, Trust staff and the public. Plus, Identity Cloak has given the Trust back time, control and confidence.

About The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

  • Staff
    11,000+

  • Population served
    450,000+

  • Sites
    New Cross, West Park, Cannock Chase, plus 20+ community locations

  • Vision
    “To deliver exceptional care together to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities.”

Summary

  • Challenge
    Old video redaction tools were slow and unreliable.

  • Solution
    Identity Cloak’s AI redaction and video standardisation.

  • Result
    Faster SARs, legal protection, efficient use of staff time and training potential.

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