3. Ms A complains that, despite assurances in June 2022 that the Trust had taken steps to protect her privacy and dignity, footage she accessed in March 2024 showed CCTV images that breached her privacy and dignity in September 2023.
4. She says the impact of this was that she was caused distress and harm. The outcomes she seeks are an acknowledgement of failings, financial compensation and service improvements.
5. In August 2021 Ms A was detained at a place of safety suite managed by the Trust. She became aware the CCTV camera angle in the suite was able to see and record into the bathroom. She raised this complaint in April 2022.
6. The Trust issued its response to her concerns in June 2022. It thanked Ms A for raising her concerns. The Trust apologised for the footage it had recorded and explained it would put a privacy block on the camera to prevent future incidents.
7. In September 2023 Ms A was again detained in the place of safety suite. She requested the CCTV images in October 2023. The Trust attempted to deliver the images twice in November, but this was not possible. The images were delivered and signed for on 2 February 2024.
8. Ms A emailed the Trust on 25 February 2024 raising her concerns about the images and made a formal complaint on 6 March 2024.
9. The Trust responded on 16 May 2024. The Trust explained it had placed a privacy block following her previous complaint. It explained it had since made changes to the bathroom and following this it had not reviewed the position of the CCTV camera and privacy block. This meant the camera had an unobstructed view into the bathroom.
10. The Trust apologised for the oversight and for the distress this had caused. It explained it had corrected the issue and a privacy block was now in place to prevent the camera recording a view of the bathroom, and the bathroom mirror. It further explained the monitor in the staff area was also pixelated so that staff cannot view this area from the monitor.
11. The Trust signposted Ms A to this office if she remained unhappy with the complaint response.
12. Ms A made a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on 25 March 2024. The ICO responded on 10 July 2024 and told Ms A the complaint was outside their remit and she should approach this office. Ms A disagreed with this decision and the ICO carried out a review. The ICO wrote to Ms A on 31 July 2024, upholding their decision and again signposting Ms A to this office.
13. Ms A brought her complaint to us on 6 March 2025.
16. We know how upsetting it will have been for Ms A to realise in 2024 that the position of the Trust’s CCTV camera had again recorded footage of her in the bathroom, after it had assured her it had taken action to prevent this.
17. We consider the Trust’s complaint response provided a transparent explanation of what happened and apologised for the distress this caused. It described the changes it has since made.
18. This is in line with NHS complaint standards, which state: ‘Organisations support and encourage staff to be open and honest when things have gone wrong or where improvements can be made. Staff recognise the need to be accountable for their actions and to identify what learning can be taken from a complaint. They are clear about how the learning will be used to improve services and support staff’.
19. We have seen evidence that the Trust has made the changes it said it would, and we will provide this evidence to Ms A.
20. We recognise Ms A is also asking for a financial remedy. We consider the Trust complaint response fully addressed the complaint Ms A put to it, and along with assurance gained from the evidence we will share with Ms A, that it is sufficient remedy for the impact of the indications of failings we have seen.
21. For this reason we have decided not to consider the complaint further, and consider the matter remedied.
22. We thank Ms A for sharing the details of her complaint with us. We recognise she may be disappointed with the outcome and we are sorry for this. It is important we consider and act within the law and we hope this statement clearly explains the reasons for our decision.
1. We have seen indications of failings in relation to the actions the Trust took following the assurances given in 2022. We consider acknowledgement of the mistake, the apology and the changes made by the Trust to be sufficient remedy for this. For this reason we do not propose to consider her complaint further.
2. We thank Ms A for taking the time to contact us. We were sorry to read about her experience and the impact this had on her. We hope this statement explains the reasons for our decision.