Hundreds of clips in a physio's camera roll
Your physios film patients: a runner on the treadmill, a squat from the side, a single-leg balance test, a shoulder movement before and after treatment. It is a useful part of the work, and patients often like to see the footage. The quickest way to film is on the physio's own phone.
So the clips stay there, mixed with family photos, backed up to a personal cloud account. When the patient's next session is with another physio, nobody can see last week's gait video. When the physio leaves the clinic, the videos leave with them. And if a patient asked for a copy of everything held about them, nobody could say exactly what exists.
Why clips never reach the record
Filming on a personal phone takes seconds. Getting that clip into the patient's record in the clinic system means transferring the file to a computer, finding the patient, uploading, and deleting it from the phone. Between patients, nobody does that.
Some clinic systems accept video uploads, some have size limits, and some only take documents. Clinic tablets exist in some clinics but sit in a drawer because they are slower to use than a phone.
Physios also film for good reasons in awkward places: on a running track, in a gym, at a patient's workplace. Whatever tool the clinic provides has to be as quick and portable as a phone, or it will not be used.
Consent is part of it. Patients should agree to being filmed and to how the footage is kept, and that agreement is usually verbal and unrecorded.
What that costs the clinic
| Issue | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Clips on personal devices | Patient footage outside your controlled systems |
| Personal cloud backups | Copies in accounts the clinic does not manage |
| Not in the record | Next physio cannot compare movement over time |
| Physio leaves | Footage leaves with them |
| Consent unrecorded | No evidence the patient agreed |
How patient images must be handled is a question for your data protection lead. Our part is making the right way also the easy way.
How we make secure capture the quick option
- Physios use a clinic app on a clinic tablet or, if your policy allows, a managed app on their own phone that keeps clips separate from personal photos.
- Before filming, the physio selects the patient from today's diary and ticks that consent was given, or the patient taps to agree on screen, and the consent is recorded.
- Clips upload straight to secure cloud storage, such as AWS or Azure, linked to the patient, and are not kept on the device.
- Clips appear in the patient's record, or are linked from it where the clinic system cannot hold video, so any physio seeing the patient can view them.
- Physios can play clips side by side, for example before and after, and share a clip with the patient through a secure link if you allow it.
- Retention rules you set are applied, and every view is logged.
After the change
Filming is still quick, but clips land in the right place. The next physio can see how the patient moved last time. Nothing clinical sits in personal camera rolls. When a physio leaves, the footage stays with the clinic. And if a patient asks what you hold, you can answer.
It also opens up useful possibilities, such as sending a patient their own clip with the physio's comments, which many patients value far more than a verbal explanation.
Is this happening at your clinic?
- Physios film patients on their own phones
- Movement videos are not in the patient record
- Personal cloud backups may hold patient footage
- Consent to filming is not recorded
- Footage has left with a physio who moved on