Tales From The Ward: David

We have been speaking to people who have experienced Oxevision. This is David’s* story.

STOP oxevision TALES FROM THE WARD DAVID Reliving past trauma As shared anonymously with Stop Oxevision
David was admitted to a ward that used Oxevision. Throughout his stay, it was used by staff to remotely observe him in his bedroom. This meant staff would only engage with him if they were alerted to an incident by the system. They would then check him for potentially harmful objects and leave; there was no therapeutic engagement in response. "I often stayed in the bathroom a lot longer, and didn't want to get changed in my room... It really affected me because of previous trauma. I hated it and I hated that they could just watch me. I felt spied on and it reinforced my delusions about CCTV, making me more unwell. I slept on the floor a lot to feel less exposed but they were still watching me, coming into my room and making horrible remarks about my behaviours they had observed." David's own experience shared with Stop Oxevision
ABOUT OXEVISION Oxevision is a camera-based device installed in the bedrooms of patients in psychiatric wards in over 24 NHS Trusts [11. It allows staff to access video footage of patients in their bedrooms 12]. Stop Oxevision has identified several issues with the technology. This includes some consent forms not disclosing the presence of a camera in the device [3]; the extent of data sharing with Oxehealth, with employees able to access images of patients in their bedrooms [4); and distress to patients, especially those with previous trauma, or those from religious or ethnic groups who would be particularly uncomfortable being observed by male members of staff [5]. As video footage can also be clipped and saved, we are also concerned it could be used to enable the increasing practice of criminalising patients with mental illness in the NHS [6]. We are calling on NHS England to halt the rollout of the technology while an independent review into the risks and legality of the technology takes place [7). SURVEILLANCE IS NOT SAFETY

*a pseudonym has been used to maintain anonymity

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