NHS England refers 10 trusts to regulator over use of digital monitoring

Screengrab © MPUNHS Foundation Trust/ YouTube 2026

By Emma Wilkinson

NHS England has referred 10 mental health trusts to the Care Quality Commission over patient consent procedures around the use of remote monitoring.

It comes after a national review of the use of digital monitoring systems, including Oxevision, after safety concerns were first raised in 2021, NHS England told the Lampard Inquiry.

Use of the infrared technology, which is installed in some mental health inpatient units to monitor breathing and pulse without staff entering the room, is one of the issues being looked at by the Lampard Inquiry which is investigating the deaths of more than 2,000 NHS patients in Essex over more than two decades.

Giving evidence, Gareth Harry, NHS England's (NHSE) national delivery director for mental health, learning disability and autism, said concerns had been raised about consent, patient observations and human rights around the use of Oxevision.

The inquiry was shown an NHSE email from 2022 in which one staff member said they had been aware of trusts where patients were “not being given the choice to refuse being filmed”.