Stop Oxevision

I am a patient on a high dependency rehabilitation ward in the Tees Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) trust. I was aware that Oxevision devices were installed on the Acute and PICU wards here, but one day I came back from a day of home leave to find an Oxevision device installed in my room.

I have been firmly against the blanket use of these devices for quite some time, and I have been on acute wards previously which have employed use of the sensors. When I noticed the device had been installed, I questioned the nurse in charge about it, and found out that they will be switched on soon and be used as a blanket policy across the ward.

Rehabilitation wards are designed to prepare patients for life in the community, and care provided in hospital should be replicable in a community setting. No community placement would ever provide (or be able to justify) use of 24/7 blanket surveillance. The vast majority of patients on my ward are on general observations, and the use of these devices is an excessive use of force and an unnecessary invasion of privacy. Any blanket restrictions or enhanced observations should be assessed on an individual basis by a multi-disciplinary team, and should be used for the least amount of time practicable.

Staff on the ward do a care round every sixty minutes for all patients on general observations. As a patient, you get some warning of this, as it usually happens on the hour. You can hear footsteps approaching, the light of the torch and the rattle of keys as staff open the window visor to check you. This gives you a small amount of time to prepare, should you be undressed or in a compromising position. With Oxevision in the rooms, staff can conduct a remote surveillance with a fifteen second clear image, and no indication is given to the patient upon this check being completed. As a result, you have no opportunity for any privacy, which significantly impacts on patient dignity, trust of staff and can feed delusions or trauma around surveillance. 

On my ward, physical observations (blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturations and temperature) are recorded once daily unless a patient has a physical health indication for this to be recorded more often. Oxehealth allows staff to record pulse and respiratory rate readings at any time, and can record patient biometric data without their consent or knowledge. Here on the ward, patients are entitled to decline physical observations, so yet another freedom is taken away by the installation of Oxevision. The readings from the devices can only be used for information and cannot be clinically relied on, and a full set of physical observations will still need to be carried out every day. Oxevision are seemingly using their ‘vital signs’ functionality as a mask for installing surveillance, and because they can register as a ‘medical device’, it doesn’t officially class as a CCTV product. 

I have been on 1:1 observations since last year for various reasons, and the model works well for me as I require 1:1 support for completing practical tasks and for emotional support. Despite the Oxevision device not being licenced for use with anyone on higher than general observations (the physical obs functionality wouldn’t work with teo people in the room, rendering the device nothing more than a CCTV camera), I have still not received any assurance from ward management that the device will not be activated in my room which had caused significant anxiety and distress. I already have someone with me all of the time, so it seems both redundant and unecessary to have a camera activated in my room. The device could also give a false sense of security by incorrectly reading my physical observations or confusing me with a member of staff when taking these readings. 

I can’t see any place for such an invasive device to be used in a rehabilitation setting, and I know I’m not alone in my dissaproval of the installation here on this ward. I would urge TEWV to discontinue the rollout of these devices within rehabilitation settings, or at the very least assess its use on a case-by-case basis rather than as a blanket policy.

Oscar Acton