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Bedroom Cameras: Patients' Consent Delayed
16 Oct
Summary
- Patients faced long waits for camera switch-off decisions.
- Consent to bedroom monitoring was not explicit initially.
- Trust changed its policy in May 2025 due to an inquiry.
Patients in mental health units experienced delays in switching off monitoring cameras in their bedrooms, with decisions requiring clinical team assessment that could take up to 72 hours. The Oxevision system was operational upon admission at wards managed by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT).
EPUT's executive director of strategy, transformation and digital stated that consent for the Oxevision system should have been explicit, not implied at admission. The trust acknowledged its previous consent approach was wrong and subsequently changed its policy in May 2025.
This issue is being examined by the Lampard Inquiry, which is investigating the deaths of over 2,000 inpatients in Essex mental health units over 24 years until the end of 2023. The infrared technology used by Oxevision is reportedly in use in approximately half of NHS mental health inpatient units.
