Lawyers for bereaved families urged the Lampard Inquiry on Tuesday to recommend suspending Oxevision cameras in psychiatric wards across England, the Guardian reported, citing concerns about direct care and privacy.
The inquiry is examining deaths of mental health inpatients in Essex from 2000 to 2023. Its Oct. 20 hearing considered whether to make interim recommendations.
Peter Mant KC, who represents more than 70 bereaved families, asked for the monitoring system to be suspended and for mental health staff to receive mandatory lifesaving training, according to the Guardian’s account of the hearing. Mant argued that staff had relied on remote monitoring in place of visits to patients, reducing opportunities for direct care.
Brenda Campbell KC, representing other families, sought an end to Oxevision use in inpatient bedrooms and wards. She said cameras in bedrooms compromised patients’ privacy.
At Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, five patients monitored by Oxevision died by suicide or unexpectedly over two years, the inquiry heard, according to the Guardian. The reported figure describes deaths during monitoring; it does not establish that Oxevision caused them.
The Guardian also reported that an alarm had been muted when Elise Sebastian, 16, died in 2021. Separate inquiry testimony described staff muting or reducing alert volumes on wards.
Laura Cozens, head of patient safety and quality at Oxevision maker LIO, told the inquiry at an earlier hearing that the technology had enabled staff to respond to serious safety incidents.
A request to halt Oxevision use in patient bedrooms was already before the inquiry in December 2025. In her published response, Inquiry Chair Baroness Kate Lampard said she would seek more evidence before considering an interim recommendation. She said she would not hesitate to make one if she considered it appropriate and necessary.
