Stop Oxevision

When I was admitted to the ward, I didn’t know I was visible to staff on a camera. After a couple of days I read the ward information pack in my bedroom and it had a leaflet about Oxevision.  There was an Oxevision device on the ceiling in the corner of the room that I hadn’t noticed. I felt humiliated to realise staff had been watching me. Had I been picking my nose? Had I masturbated? Had I got undressed within sight of the camera? I couldn’t remember and didn’t know what they might have seen. It was so humiliating.

I asked them to cover it. They refused. I covered it myself with some paper. They removed it and took away my only chair so I couldn’t put the paper back. I said that I didn’t consent. They told me it was policy that I had to have it. I asked to see the policy. They were unable to find it. Later it turned out the Mental Health Trust didn’t have one.

There was no empathy or sympathy that I was upset about the surveillance. The lack of compassion about my reaction was as upsetting as the camera itself – there was no understanding by staff why I might be distressed by it and instead I could see they viewed my reaction as being “difficult”. I felt like a bad patient.

One time I went to the ward office and when a health care assistant opened the door I could see all the other staff looking at the Oxevision screen which had a very clear image of another patient in her bedroom walking round her bed. I was shocked. Everyone in the office was looking at this patient who didn’t have any idea that not only staff were watching her but I could see her clearly too, a random stranger at the office door.

I moved my bedding into the en-suite bathroom so that the cameras couldn’t see me. I refused to leave the bathroom and ate my meals by the toilet (due to covid restrictions I had meals in my bedroom).

The Oxevision cameras had a very negative impact on my inpatient experience. I’m still not sure what footage of me might still be out there perhaps stored on Oxehealth servers, or worse. In the past I was a victim of voyeurism. I try not to think about it, but it is there, a nagging thought, wondering if I’m on the dark web somewhere.