Introduce a photo protection feature that prevents deletion of resident photos, or records all photo deletions in a permanent audit trail (including user, date, time, and reason), to protect evidence, maintain data integrity, and strengthen safeguarding and compliance.

Photo Deletion Control and Audit Trail Enhancement

We would like PCS to introduce stronger controls around photo management to protect the data recorded.

Currently, photos stored within resident albums can be deleted by users and, once deleted, cannot be recovered. Although audit records may show that a picture was created or changed, there appears to be limited protection against the permanent removal of photographic evidence that may form part of a resident's care history, wound monitoring, safeguarding investigations, incident records, or quality assurance processes. The audit trail cannot show which picture has been deleted and an ID provided does not help.

Suggestions are:

• An option to make resident photos non-deletable once saved.
• Permission-based controls allowing only authorised roles to delete photos.
• A mandatory reason for deletion before a photo can be removed.
• A permanent audit trail recording the user, date, time, resident, photo ID, and deletion reason.
• A recycle bin/recovery function allowing deleted photos to be restored within a defined retention period.
• Optional automatic watermarking of exported photos with resident name, date/time taken, and staff member who uploaded the image.

These controls would significantly improve data integrity, reduce the risk of deliberate or accidental tampering, strengthen safeguarding evidence, support CQC compliance, and provide greater confidence that photographic records remain accurate, traceable, and defensible.