Home » Categories » Health » Health News » Abuse in elderly care homes

Posted Thursday, November 01, 2007
View All Blog Posts submitted by Creative

For years it has been known that certain abuses take place in care homes for the elderly with serious cases of neglect that may lead to death or general mishandling and poor treatment which can include violence.

 

This article HERE offers some advice and answers some of the concerns of relatives seeking  care home's for their elderly relatives.

 

I have what I believe is a solution which could overnight almost eradicate abuse within care homes and have today forwarded this solution to my MP and to the program that posted the article referenced. Help spread this idea!

 

The idea is this:

 

 

In retail stores, they often have CCTV positioned over staff tills so that they can 'see' if any staff steal money. The presence of the cameras means that staff do not steal money. The camera's are a deterrent!

 

If CCTV was introduced to care homes and the staff & owners were aware of two things:

 

1) They were being watched 100% of the time

2) The CCTV tapes could be viewed at any time by an outside inspectorate

 

 

Initially this would be unattractive to care staff and owners BUT, the way to sell it to the homes and make the homes pay for their OWN CCTV is this:

 

Those homes with CCTV are telling the clients they have NOTHING to hide, so for them CCTV is a good marker of quality of care and may increase their uptake.

 

The Government could offer a grant to assist with the cost, or some other incentive.

 

BUT the best way to get care homes to take up the idea is media attention. Those that do not have CCTV will be asked 'why they do not' by new clients when they pass by.

 

Another issue that may arise is patient privacy..one would need the patients consent to be 'recorded'. I am sure many would not object to this if it is a means to protect them from abuse and neglect or their relatives consent where the patient cannot speak for themselves.

 

If you think this is a solution, spread the word. This is one form of abuse we can do something about, and sooner rather than later!