Walsall Council has been censured for flouting the Data Protection Act, as the information of the patients was found abandoned outside a warehouse.

It has been an offensive act where necessary information about the patients which included their dates of birth, addresses and signatures was handled in a casual manner and was dumped, stated the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

ICO Spokesperson Simon Entwhisle stated that the informative documents were found outside a firm’s warehouse which carries out the postal work of the council. The documents are supposed to be kept confidential and should be handled with care and safety. Either the documents have to be encoded in encrypt or the paper works should be handled with absolute discretion.

The staff which is engaged in such procedures should be trained properly so they are not found guilty of contravening the information.

ICO has warned the Council over the matter and had asked to take immediate steps to avoid further related activities.

Walsall Council Head Councillor Mike Bird stated that the council has salvaged the documents and will ensure that such activities do not take place in future. He said that though it was the fault of the contractors but the council cannot call off from the erroneous act that had been discovered.