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Use of Drones for Situational Awareness Privacy Notice

Who we are

The Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust (WAST) ("we", "our", "us") are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your data. This Privacy Notice explains how we process personal data when operating Drones, in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Contact details

If you have any questions or concerns about your data, you can contact WAST’s Data Protection Officer and Information Governance Team via email at AMB_infoGovernance@wales.nhs.uk

Why we use drones

WAST deploys drones to improve situational awareness during emergency incidents. Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) are a specially recruited team of experienced paramedics who are trained and equipped to respond to high risk and complex emergency situations. WAST’s HART Team will carefully decide if an emergency situation would benefit from a Drone being deployed. This helps our teams assess risks, protect the public, and support safe and effective emergency response.

Drones are only used when there is a clear operational need, and only the minimum amount of footage necessary for the incident is captured. The footage is used to support situational awareness, risk assessment, and operational decision-making. It is not used for diagnosis, treatment, or any form of clinical decision-making

What we collect

We collect or use the following information to provide patient care as part of emergency response. Drones may capture:

  • Images or video of individuals in or near an incident
  • Vehicles, buildings, or identifiable locations
  • Special category data where it is unavoidable (e.g., health related information visible during an emergency)
  • The Drone will capture who at WAST is flying and operating the Drone.

We do not use drones for routine monitoring, general surveillance, or recording individuals who are not involved in an incident unless it is operationally unavoidable. The drones do not capture audio data.

The drone will also collect non-personal data such as the elevation of the drone, the GPS coordinates, the temperature and other environmental data.

WAST take steps to ensure that any personal data captured is minimised and processed in accordance with data protection principles.

How we ensure your privacy

We use a range of technical and organisational measures to protect drone footage and your privacy, including:

  • Secure storage systems.
  • Drones are only deployed when justified by operational need.
  • Operators are trained in data protection and confidentiality.
  • Only essential footage is captured (data minimisation).
  • Drone operations follow WAST’s CCTV and Surveillance Systems Policy.
  • Live streams are only viewed in secure environments by authorised staff.
  • Devices used to access drone footage are kept physically secure.
  • All access to footage is logged and audited. 
  • Robust incident reporting procedures.

How long do we keep drone footage?

Recorded footage is stored securely for 28 days unless there is a lawful reason to retain it for longer (for example, for an investigation).

After this period, footage is securely deleted.

Who we share information with

We only share drone footage when it is necessary, lawful, and proportionate to do so. Footage may be shared with:

  • Police or other emergency services, where required to support an incident response or for the prevention or detection of serious crime
  • Regulatory or oversight bodies, where we are legally required to provide information
  • Legal representatives, where disclosure is necessary and lawful (for example, in connection with legal proceedings)

We do not share drone footage for marketing, commercial, or non‑emergency purposes.

WAST is also subject to the common law duty of confidentiality. This means we will only share information where:

  • you have given consent (explicitly or implied for the purpose of providing care);
  • we are legally required to share it (for example, by a court order);
  • there is an overriding public interest, such as preventing or detecting serious crime; or
  • the requirements of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 are met.

Any sharing is carefully assessed to ensure it is lawful, justified, and limited to what is necessary.

Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, WAST processes drone footage under:

  • Article 6(1)(e) – Public Task
    Processing is necessary for WAST’s statutory emergency response functions.

Where special category data is captured, we rely on:

  • Article 9(2)(g) – Substantial Public Interest
    Supported by Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

A full Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has been completed to assess and mitigate data protection risks.

Your data protection rights

If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact amb.records@wales.nhs.uk

Complaints

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice. If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address: 

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint