Hidden Cameras in Care Homes.

Good point.

gillybob Your grandmother pointing out the camera to all and sundry would, in itself, probably offer her protection from any mistreatment. It wouldn't even have to be connected.

I would hope that if I was vulnerable, and not able to give well considered consent, that someone would make wise decisions for me on my behalf.

The problem is FarNorth is that the people who are the most vulnerable are often not able to give their full (well considered) consent. I know my DG would happily tell everyone that their was a camera watching them! She would no doubt point it out to them in all innocence. I couldn't agree to a camera being installed without her knowledge as I wouldn't want to spy on her. Everyone has the right of privacy in their own home.

If I felt that there was danger to me, in my own home, then I would have no problem with having cameras there so that, if anything did happen, there would be a chance of catching the wrong-doer.

Pogs I think the difference with care homes is consideration for the residents - it's their home.

I wouldn't like to be under surveillance, for whatever purpose, as I went about my daily business in my own home.

Obviously if there was a particular protection/safety issue then it would be justified, but not a blanket constant CCTV.

Also, I worked as a receptionist moons ago and I was on CCTV. I knew it was there but I didn't feel uncomfortable !

Why should a care home be any different to other work places which have CCTV?

Hospitals, Police Stations, shops, supermarkets, railway stations, buses, pubs, clubs, etc. etc.

ps - tape recorder, not camera, but the same idea.

"if you're not doing anything wrong why should you mind being spied on" - this reminds me of a home visit I made when working as an EP, to see a poor little girl who had a disease where she was rapidly losing her eyesight. Can't remember the name of the disease.
I had been discussing things with her mother, mainly the type of educational placement that could be offered. At the end of the interview the girl revealed a tape recorder and they said they had been taping what had been said.
I felt very uncomfortable, but understood that perhaps they wanted to pass on to Dad what had happened. Or the girl was becoming more dependent on what she was hearing than seeing.
If they had asked at first, I would have agreed, but it might have reduced the spontaneity.

POGS I can understand someone wanting to install a camera if they feel something untoward is happening. But I don't subscribe to the view that if you're not doing anything wrong why should you mind being spied on. I'm sure most working people would object to their every move being observed as a matter of course - would senior managers put up with it?

Of course, if your job involves working with vulnerable people it is very different from, say, working in an office, and in circumstances where there is a suspicion of cruelty or neglect, I think such surveillance measures are justified.

gillybob I feel for you. It can be very frustrating trying to establish whether something being complained of is wholly true, partly true or totally untrue. Unless I had a strong suspicion that a loved one was being mistreated, I would be reluctant to install a camera just on the off chance of catching a carer out. It is difficult though.

I (shamefully) admit that I would like to install cameras into my DG's bungalow merlotgran, but probably could never do it. I worry terribly about her and I know some of the "carers" she has are not all they would appear to be. I know she does fixate on some petty things. For example at the moment a cracked china cup is causing her (and me) no end of misery and she just can't seem to let it go and the carers must be driven nuts over it. She has recently started to take huge dislikes/likes to someone for no reason whatsoever. I am getting to the stage where I take a lot of what she says with a pinch of salt but it scares me that I can no longer judge whether what she says is the truth of a distorted version of what really happened.

Putting cameras up would give me piece of mind but it is a huge invasion of anyones privacy (especially if they were unaware) and perhaps a step too far.

alisonja18

In my earlier post I said if I were a member of staff I would not have a problem with CCTV.

I don't see it as a problem but if a 'client' did not want CCTV in their private room then that should be respected.

It's like any scenario to me, if you know you do nothing wrong then what issue can you have with CCTV. Surely everybody wants the same thing, knowlege that clients/family members are receiving good care and being treated with respect.

I am a senior manager for a company which has six medium sized homes for older people. I asked -through our company Facebook page - for comments on this subject, attaching an online article from The Guardian. Of the responses I got, staff working in the homes were without fail in favour of this! It was noticeable that the staff responding were those whom I know to be responsible, kind and caring people. Other respondents who do not work in the care sector felt that the camera route may be too intrusive, asking us to be more thorough in our recruitment. As already noted in this thread, this is nigh on impossible as people attending interview are very clever in presenting the persona we want to see - as if by magic, as soon as their six month probationary period is over they become very different people.
My personal feeling is that yes, cameras should be used in certain circumstances - we have in the past caught a thief thanks to a covert camera placed in the room by the Resident's family (without our knowledge) - by the way this turned out to be the person we least expected!

She was almost at the point of being moved there; it's very worrying.

I would guess that if there is the possibility of prosecution in the case of the care home that has been suspended, it would at the very least be unwise and possibly counter-productive to inform the general public of the reason(s) for the suspension.

It's frightening to realise that a home that had been checked out by the family and looked ideal is actually under a cloud of some kind. And worrying that there is no information about why this has happened. Looking for a care home for someone is something that, thankfully, none of us will have to do many times over so there should be help and guidance in place from trustworthy sourses when that advice is needed .

A friend of mine her mother was "dumped" in a nursing after being in hospital with a uti. They wanted the bed. The lady is in her late 90s and is blind and almost totally deaf. One home refused to take her although they had beds the local SS were appalling and the local MP was too busy to look into the situation. The family are hoping they have now found a good home to take her but will have to wait about 2 weeks. There is more but I don't want to go into it as the family think they are now able to at last get their mother into a good home. I feel very angry for them as all this talk about sorting out care homes means nothing and it comes down to family or friends fighting for a vulnerable person.

The S.O. was in the process of moving his mother into a care home that seemed to meet all of the requirements, only to be told a couple of days ago that the home had been 'suspended' and no one was prepared to give a reason. She now has to go into a home as a matter of urgency [has been in hospital for quite a while and they really do need the bed].It's all very frightening to think that she could have gone there. Age Concern won't recommend a home, neither can the hospital. Something needs to be done to safeguard such vulnerable people.

I am amazed too.
But it sounds to me like they take their job seriously.
They are being realistic. They are not there all the time. And know that some things will be happening in secret.They cannot rely on staff airing suspicions or even definite knowledge. And the CQC need evidence.

I did notice that the information has this month's date on it. Perhaps it is new.

I am amazed that the CQC is virtually endorsing the idea of hidden cameras. Seems a bit like an admission of failure in their part.

You can also add in those who don't speak English very well.
Many Polish / Russian / Romanian people were deliberately recruited by care employers who were short of staff. How they got on, I don't know.
I have no problem with anyone earning their living but feel that as care of the elderly can invovle difficulties with communication anyway, it's a very bad idea to employ people who are not fluent in English.

No, care workers should not be lifting people themselves. They should be using some sort of lifting equipment to do it. This is for the protection of the patient as much as for the worker.

I am appalled that one of the government solutions to youth unemployment is to have them working with the elderly for free. It does seem to be the view that 'anyone can do it'. I can't think of anything worse than the combination of the untrained + those who do not want to be there. It seems a recipe for disaster.

I'm amazed at all these new health and safety regs - when Mum was in the care home I used to take her out shopping in her wheelchair. She was paralysed after a stroke and had to be lifted everywhere, but loved her outings.
I don't expect I'd be allowed to do that now, unless we had our own personal insurance policy.

I'm amazed the care assistant picked her up Falconbird. They're not normally allowed to do any lifting without mechanical aids.

Mum's medication was kept on a shelf in a kitchen cupboard. We discovered her in pain because she hadn't been given her painkillers. A new carer (slightly shorter than the old one) said she wasn't allowed to stretch up or stand on anything (health and safety) so poor Mum had to endure the pain.

When we got home, DH told me he was very tempted to grab the carer by the scruff, lift her up and shout, 'CAN YOU REACH IT NOW??'