Controversial cameras for monitoring mental health patients subject of inquiry
The Lampard Inquiry is set to decide whether interim recommendations are needed regarding the use of Oxevision on wards.
An inquiry into the deaths of people under the care of mental health services will examine whether a controversial camera system for monitoring patients should be stopped.
The Lampard Inquiry, which is examining the deaths of thousands of mental health patients in Essex, is set to decide whether interim recommendations are needed regarding the use of Oxevision on wards.
Campaigners have told the inquiry the cameras are unsafe, with staff relying on them instead of human checks, leading to some patients dying.
Oxevision has been used in half of England’s mental health trusts, according to data presented to the inquiry, and works by remotely monitoring movement and unusual activity as well as the ability to measure pulse and breathing rate.
Lawyers from Bindmans, representing the campaign group Stop Oxevision, have asked the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to investigate the lawfulness of the way the system collects, processes and retains patient’s data.
Nina Ali, partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, who represents 120 victims in the inquiry, said: “People across the country are dying or being harmed while under mental health care as this inquiry continues to sit and hear evidence.
“We cannot stand by and let more people lose their lives and become part of these haunting statistics.
“The use of Oxevision has no place in mental health care. It is intrusive, clinically ineffective and potentially unlawful.
“A 24-hour invasive, non-consensual monitoring system must not and cannot ever replace quality human care, especially when, as seen in the devastating case of our client Elise Sebastian, staff muted alerts and left her alone for nearly 30 minutes before she was found unresponsive in her room and died.
“We have seen case after case where people have needlessly lost their lives because the system alerts were ignored, misunderstood or muted.
“Or where staff were, by default, heavily reliant on the system pitched as an ‘assistive tool’. This is a frightening show of neglect and patients deserve better.”
She said the clients she represents also want to see measures to rectify the “shambolic lack of CPR training for staff looking after the most vulnerable in our society”.
Ms Ali added: “We are calling for all staff to undergo face-to-face CPR training delivered by an independent body, and any staff who fail to meet the requirements should be removed from patient care.”
Sophie Alderman, 27, who had a history of serious mental ill health and self-harm and who killed herself in August 2022 in Rochford hospital, Essex, was under surveillance by Oxevision.
Her mother, Tammy Smith, has told the inquiry the monitoring was unsafe and contributed to her daughter’s paranoia.
Speaking ahead of the inquiry hearing on Monday, Ms Smith said: “Sophie was meant to be safe in hospital.
“Instead, a camera was placed in her bedroom without any clear record that she understood it, consented to it, or that anyone considered the impact it would have on a young woman whose illness contributed to a deep discomfort of cameras and a fear of being spied on.
“Oxevision invaded the only relatively private space Sophie had on an inpatient ward, it risked deepening her distress, and its alert function failed to protect her when it mattered most.
“No family should have to wonder whether their loved one died believing help was coming because a system had raised an alert that no-one answered.
“I will continue to add my voice to calls for the use of Oxevision to be halted, and hope that the coming hearings are a sign that Baroness Lampard is listening to those calls.”
The company Lio, which originally created Oxevision, has been contacted for comment.
In October 2025, Laura Cozens, head of patient safety at Lio, told the Lampard Inquiry “the platform may not be suitable for everyone – and we do recognise that”.
As reported by the BBC, when asked by Nicholas Griffin KC: “Would you agree that filming a patient 24 hours a day constitutes a very significant invasion of privacy?” Ms Cozens said: “Possibly, yes”.
Ms Cozens said the tech had played a critical role in preventing serious incidents, including falls at a dementia ward.
She said there were 1,774 incidents where staff were supported in responding to situations where patients could otherwise have come to some serious harm, adding that the system helped to free up staff time from paperwork, the BBC reported.