An NHS trust has ended the use of a monitoring system that continuously records video of mental health patients in their bedrooms amid concerns it allows trauma to resurface in sexually abused women.
Camden and Islington NHS foundation trust (C&I) discontinued use of the Oxevision system after female patients and staff warned that it undermined the care of victims of sexual abuse and assault.
Campaigners against violence against women called on the other 22 NHS trusts using Oxevision in some psychiatric wards to stop using it – or review its purpose in monitoring patients’ vital signs.
C&I used the system in the Rosewood unit, based at St Pancras hospital, which is dedicated to treating the trust’s most vulnerable female psychiatric patients, who include survivors of sexual assault and childhood abuse.
The trust suspended its use of Oxevision, which allows staff to monitor a patient’s pulse and breathing rate via an optical sensor, in November after patients complained they were being covertly surveilled.
As part of an internal review into whether to resume using the system, C&I’s women’s strategy group contended that it compromised the trust’s commitment to providing trauma-informed care.
The group, which includes staff and patients, said: “Women in inpatient mental health services are disproportionately affected by adverse childhood events including sexual abuse and adult experiences of sexual assault and domestic abuse.
“The concerns about Oxevision relating to privacy and dignity and restrictive practice link to these experiences.”
Lily, who previously told the Guardian how she became acutely distressed after discovering she was being recorded by Oxevision on the Rosewood unit, welcomed the trust’s decision. She said: “The intrusiveness of the system felt abusive, it was demeaning and left me feeling less than human.
“There is no place in a trauma-informed environment for a system such as this – a system which films a patient’s bed throughout the day and night without their knowledge.”
The End Violence Against Women Coalition and Rape Crisis both called on the NHS to review the use of Oxevision.
Andrea Simon, director of EVAW, said: “Twenty-four-hour surveillance of survivors is hugely and unnecessarily intrusive and it’s no surprise that survivors are saying this is retraumatising. It’s an unthinkable response to those who have experienced a violation of their individual autonomy and control. The support that rape and sexual assault survivors receive must work to counter this power dynamic, not reinforce it.”
Dr Angela Sweeney, an expert in trauma-informed care at King’s College London, urged the NHS to “immediately suspend the use of Oxevision across all mental health trusts”.
She added: “We know that people who have experienced sexual abuse, assault and coercive control may also have been subjected to the use of cameras, photographic equipment and other recording devices. To replicate this on mental health wards contravenes everything we know about creating safety. Rather than keeping people safe, the use of Oxevision is likely to create fear.”
Jayne Butler, the chief executive of Rape Crisis, added: “We would encourage the NHS and individual trusts to consider how to improve their practice and learn from the decision made at Camden and Islington NHS foundation trust, this should certainly include reviewing [the] decision to pilot this scheme.”
A C&I spokesperson said: “The trust has discontinued the Oxevision pilot following concerns from some service users. While Oxehealth offered to make modifications to the system, we took the decision to end the trial because we felt some service users would still feel uncomfortable.”
A spokesperson for Oxehealth, which created Oxevision, said it was constantly looking at ways to improve the service. He added: “Patients being cared for by staff with Oxevision report an improved sense of safety, less disturbed sleep and an increased sense of privacy.”
