Woman Arrested for Filming ‘Empty’ UK Hospital

A woman has been arrested and charged on suspicion of committing a public order offence for posting a video online showing a largely empty Gloucestershire Hospital. 

The forty-six-year-old woman recorded a series of videos showing empty corridors and wards at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. The video soon went viral, being viewed 90,000 times in the two days after it was originally posted. 

Whilst walking through an empty waiting room she states:

“This is a disgrace…it is so dead…all the people in our country desperately waiting for treatment, cancer treatment, heart disease, honestly this is making me so angry,”

Following the video being posted online, the forty-six-year-old was subsequently arrested at her home under suspicion of committing a public order offence. Government guidelines state that:

“The purpose of public order law is to ensure that individual rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are balanced against the rights of others to go about their daily lives unhindered.”

In response to the growing attention the videos were receiving, Gloucestershire Hospitals released a press statement:

“Contrary to what you may have seen through ‘secret filming’ on Facebook, our hospitals are and remain extremely busy. We are currently caring for more than 200 patients with COVID-19, including many who require treatment in our critical care departments and a further 500+ non-COVID patients who need our care and expertise.

“Every day, we provide urgent treatment for more than 300 patients at our Emergency Departments at Gloucester and Cheltenham and this continues every day of the year. This includes patients who walk in and those who come by ambulance; of these 300 patients, around 100 will require admission or further treatment on our wards.

“Filming patients who are waiting in A&E without their consent is both intrusive and upsetting as maintaining patient confidentiality is key to our hospitals being a safe space for you to receive the care you need.”

In response to Gloucestershire Hospital’s Twitter account sharing a link to their public statement, ITV Westcountry News reporter Ken Goodwin said the following:

‘Would just say, GRH, that *showing* us how busy you are might instantly dispel any 'myths' which are circulating. I asked back in the first wave. Not granted. Appreciate you are busy, and understand all the H&S implications and risks. But pictures speak a thousand words.’

Based upon the government guidelines on public order offences, and alongside the statement made by Gloucestershire Hospitals, it may well be that she was prosecuted on the grounds of filming the handful of people sitting in the Accident and Emergency waiting room without their permission as opposed to the act of filming the empty corridors and wards. 

The Gloucestershire Police released a statement about the arrest:

"The woman has been bailed to return to police on 21 January, with conditions that she cannot enter any NHS premises or the grounds of any such premises, unless in the case of an emergency or to attend a pre-arranged NHS appointment."

In a video showing her arrest, the forty-six-year-old is shown handcuffed in her dressing gown with the police asking her to ‘put some clothes on’.

In a series of tweets seemingly made on her behalf, she describes the events as “Orwellian”, further stating:

“They’re now claiming they have to watch my house as I am at risk because my address and name has been released online.”

The issue was briefly brought up in parliament by the Member of Parliament for Stroud, Siobhan Baillie, who told Government Health secretary Matt Hancock:

“It’s appalling that our Gloucestershire Hospital Trust had to spend their precious time during this pandemic defending themselves against films on social media that were wrongly claiming the hospital was empty.”