The Lampard Inquiry is a statutory public inquiry investigating the deaths of patients under mental health services in Essex between 2000-2023. The inquiry was brought out by the tireless campaigning of bereaved families and activists.
Amongst its list of core issues, the Lampard Inquiry will investigate ‘Technology and Privacy’ including matters surrounding the use of Oxevision and OxeObs – a technology marked by the Oxford University spin-out LIO Health, formerly known as Oxehealth. Essex Partnership University NHS Trust (EPUT) and Oxehealth / LIO Health are both Core Participants of the Inquiry.
In Early 2025, Oxehealth / LIO Health, Stop Oxevision and EPUT were asked to provide written evidence to the inquiry regarding Oxevision, its usage by EPUT and Stop Oxevision’s concerns and activism against the use of the technology.
Subsequently, representatives from Oxehealth / LIO Health, Stop Oxevision and EPUT were called to provide oral evidence in a set of hearings scheduled for May 2025.
Hat Porter (they/them) gave evidence on behalf of Stop Oxevision.
Laura Cozens gave evidence on behalf of Oxehealth / LIO Health. Cozens is Head of Patient Safety and Quality at Oxehealth. Prior to this she was involved in the early deployment of Oxevision within Broadmoor Hospital, a high security hospital operated by West London NHS Trust.
Zephan Trent gave evidence on behalf of EPUT in relation to Oxevision and OxeObs. Trent is Executive Director of Strategy, Transformation and Digital and a member of EPUT’s Board of Directors.
In May, shortly before the Oxevision hearings were scheduled, EPUT disclosed a second witness statement detailing a change in policy. As a result, the Lampard Inquiry took the decision to reschedule the hearings.
This extremely last minute change in scheduling caused stress to many Core Participants of the Inquiry. Hat – who was due to give evidence on behalf of Stop Oxevision – is autistic and the inquiry were aware that they find change and uncertainty difficult. Therefore, Hat’s evidence on behalf of Stop Oxevision went ahead on the date planned in May and was recorded in a private session.
The Oxevision hearings were subsequently rescheduled for October 2025.
[Please note: the content of all Lampard Inquiry hearings is highly distressing and includes discussion of death, details of suicide and self-harm methods, references to sexual violence and institutional abuses. Please take care when engaging with this content].
On the 13th October, Laura Cozens gave evidence on behalf of Oxehealth / LIO Health. You can watch her evidence here and here.
The transcript from the hearings on the 13th October is available here.
Stop Oxevision’s oral evidence was recorded on the 14th May 2025 but livestreamed on the 14th October 2025. You can watch this here.
The transcript of Stop Oxevision’s evidence is available here.
On the 14th October, following Hat’s evidence, Zephan Trent gave evidence on behalf of EPUT. You can watch this here and here.
The transcript of the hearings from the 14th October are available here.
In addition to providing oral evidence, Stop Oxevision and Oxehealth each provided two written witness statements. EPUT issued three written witness statements.
Stop Oxevision witness statement one
Stop Oxevision witness statement two
Oxehealth / LIO Health witness statement one
Oxehealth / LIO Health witness statement two
Additional exhibits from Stop Oxevision and EPUT are available to view here
Additional exhibits from Oxehealth / LIO Health are available to view here
[Please note, the Lampard Inquiry have not disclosed all the evidence included in each witness statement on the website, as such witnesses may make references to documents which have not been shared publicly. Exhibits and witness statements are disclosed to witnesses and Core Participants ahead of hearings].
Following the October hearings, Stop Oxevision shared the following pre-recorded statement.
The National Survivor User Network (NSUN) also shared a statement in response to the hearings.
The Lampard Inquiry will continue to hear evidence in relation to EPUT’s use of Oxevision, having agreed to follow up with EPUT and Oxehealth / LIO Health witnesses, in addition to hearing from bereaved family Core Participants and people with lived experience in the forthcoming hearings in 2025 and 2026.
The Lampard Inquiry will issue a final report issuing their findings and recommendations. This is not expected until at least 2027.
Stop Oxevision are represented in our capacity as a witness to the inquiry by Rachel Harger and Khariya Ali of Bindmans and by Brenda Campbell KC of Lincoln House Chambers, and Tom Stoate of Doughty Street Chambers.
Update 30/10/2025: we are updating this webpage to add a section from Counsel to the Inquiry’s closing statements on 28th October in regards to the Oxevision evidence heard. The closing statements were delivered by Rebecca Harris KC and reads as follows:
“Chair, this hearing began with our returning to hear important evidence about Oxevision. It remains unclear from the evidence we have heard, the extent to which trusts, including EPUT, have considered how this relatively new technology should be applied in the provision of mental health care and the extent to which they have considered its benefit to patients.
The Inquiry will look further to understand the evidential basis for the deployment of Oxevision by around 50% of trusts providing mental health in-patient care. We will continue to scrutinise carefully the application of Oxevision in mental health settings and in particular the operating models, both past and revised, that are being used by EPUT.
The Inquiry learned about the large camera in its casing installed in patients’ bedrooms, with its constant red glow from two sensors, which remain on even when the system is turned off. We learned how the system may exacerbate symptoms, particularly in those already experiencing paranoia.
We learned that one consequence of Oxevision is the reduction and removal of important one-to-one therapeutic contact. We heard of significant concerns around the process of obtaining patient consent for its use, particularly given the acceptance by EPUT that the system may constitute a significant invasion to the patient’s privacy, given a 24-hour rolling buffer, which actually means the camera is recording all the time.
We further learned that the system enables staff to access 15 seconds of clear footage of a patient in their bedroom without them being aware and that staff can do so multiple times.
We learned about the parameters of the Oxevision system and the ability of the system to take pulse and respiratory readings, subject to some limitations, although it remained unclear how the data gathered through Oxevision was used. We heard that even when the use of Oxevision may assist clinicians, there appears to be the potential for significant shortcomings in its use, owing to lack of staff training, for example, or alarm fatigue.
Chair, you will recall that we heard from Sophie Alderman’s mother, Tammy Smith, about how the staff on that ward had received little or no training on the use of the devices, with reference to knowledge apparently cascading to junior staff. This was followed by her deeply distressing evidence about how the Oxevision alarm was sounding as Sophie died, but how no one heard or responded.
The Inquiry is currently taking stock of the evidence it has received about Oxevision, Chair, and will seek further information on this topic as you consider necessary. This Inquiry needs to understand to what extent and in what form there is purpose or place for Oxevision in mental health in-patient settings.
Chair, you have repeatedly stated that your aim, and the aim of this Inquiry, is to bring about long awaited and clearly needed improvement in mental health care. On behalf of your Inquiry team, I repeat our commitment to helping you achieve that aim.”
Update 13/12/2025: we are updating this page to include links to the Lampard Inquiry December hearing where Stop Oxevision’s barrister, Brenda Campbell KC, delivered a powerful speech on behalf of core participants represented by Bindmans LLP, Brenda Campbell KC of Lincoln House Chambers, and Tom Stoate of Doughty Street Chambers.
In her submission to the Lampard Inquiry, Brenda makes reference to a letter Bindmans have submitted to the Inquiry on behalf of Stop Oxevision and bereaved family Core Participants. The letter is not currently publicly available. The letter calls on the Lampard Inquiry to issue ‘interim recommendations’ “requiring EPUT to take immediate steps to safely halt the use of Oxevision in inpatient bedrooms in all adult, older adult and children and young people wards within three months pending the final report and recommendation of this Inquiry”.
Brenda emphasises “we note that the proposed interim recommendation now finds considerable force in public statements by some Trusts, other than EPUT, that they have paused or will uninstall the use of Oxevision in their wards, concerned about a lack of evidence of its effectiveness or clinical justification, or because the use of Oxevision in private spaces such as bedrooms raises, which of course it does, significant human rights concerns, or because of profound concerns about data storage and retention. What is clear as a result, Chair, is that in proposing this interim recommendation, we are not inviting this Inquiry to enter unchartered territory, but to join others in leading the move away from the blanket use of this intrusive technology with its unproven clinical justification”.
The calls for the Lampard Inquiry to issue interim recommendations calling EPUT to stop using Oxevision have been supported by HJA endorsed this on behalf of their clients, Bhatt Murphy for their bereaved/lived experience clients and separately Bhatt Murphy for INQUEST.
Brenda also raises concerns that “LIO [/ Oxehealth] have sought to publish on their website and social media the Lampard Inquiry evidence as promotional marketing material […] It is, Chair, a staggering spin on the evidence that you heard. Not only using material from this Inquiry, but using it in such a way as to promote the use of a system, and in doing so ignoring the concerns raised in the Inquiry’s evidence about how the system may exacerbate symptoms, particularly those experiencing paranoia, about a consequence of the use of Oxevision being measured in the reduction and removal of important one-to-one therapeutic contact, about the significant and ongoing concerns about patient consent”.
At the time of writing, the post of concern remains on LIO/Oxehealth’s Linkedin, unedited.
Leave a Reply