An NHS trust has been advised to improve it’s data protection services.

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, also known as Darent Valley, in Darenth Wood Road, Dartford, underwent an audit report from the Information Commisioner’s Office (ICO) in December last year.

The audit found a ‘number of issues’ in regard to how confidential waste was disposed. The trust had been stored in untied bags, which were only collected when full, which carried ‘a risk of sensitive material being inappropriately accessed or lost’.

The ICO said the trust should store confidential waste more securely, e.g. lockable waste bins.

It was also stated that members of the Subject Access Request (SAR) team had not received training specific to GDPR and it’s new legislation.

The hospital was given a ‘limited’ rating for it’s governance and accountability for data protection, as well as requests for personal data.

The report said it had ‘identified considerable scope for improvement’.

It was also given a ‘reasonable’ rating for it’s record management.

The report offered 27 recommendations for governance and accountability, with five of them being labelled as urgent.

For records management they received 24, with seven being tabbed as urgent.

Out of 30 recommendations for how requests for personal data were managed, only three were urgent.

Spokesman for the Trust, Glyn Oakley, said: "We were selected by the ICO and welcomed their offer to take part in the audit. We welcome the findings of the ICO report and have accepted all of their recommendations.

"We are now working through our action plan to ensure that we achieve full compliance and provide further assurance that the information we hold on patients and employees is managed in full accordance with GDPR regulations.”