Advice on care home secret filming

[Osem]

Given the abuse which we all knows goes on in some of these places I think families are entirely right to film secretly in order to detect abuse where that's suspected.

Guidance is being issued about the use of hidden cameras to monitor the care of people in hospitals and care homes.

The Care Quality Commission has produced a pamphlet that sets out what relatives in England need to consider.

It includes advice on gaining permission from the person being cared for and where it can be done.

The CQC said opinion was divided about hidden cameras but it was publishing the guidance in recognition of the fact some people were already using them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31424424

I'm pretty sure that any family who cared enough about their vulnerable loved ones to suspect a potential problem and do something about it aren't the people we need to be worrying about. Rather we need to be much more concerned about the calibre of people performing the supposed caring roles because a proportion of them ought not be let near any vulnerable person.

Of course we can't guarantee the motives of anyone but has there been a single case in which secret filming by relatives has been shown to have been done for anything other than the best motives?

Frankly, carers are already made to jump through hoops in order to help their loved ones and anything, however well intentioned, which adds to their burden isn't going to improve the lives of the vulnerable people who rely on them in one way or another.

Given what we have seen in recent years in terms of abuse in care homes i think people have a right to do whatever they legallly can to protect their loved one's and i wouldn't think twice in placing a hidden camera if i suspected anything. Having friends that work in reputable care homes i am often shocked at how often they say bad homes are reported and it takes years and sometimes never for the CQC to do anything about it doesn't give me much confidence in them to be honest. As for getting the permission of the person in the care home i think that's impratical quite often as the two relatives that were sent to care homes in our family were sent only beause of severe dementia\alzheimers and we were not able to do what was best for them so they wouldn't remember being asked or indeed giving permission at a later date.

For real families placing a loved one in a care home is something that is very painful without the added worry and conern you've placed them somewhere that may abuse them.