The footage also showed an incident of one individual being fed cold porridge.  On another occasion, the CCTV captured a staff member ‘roughly handling’ a resident.

When CQC inspectors visited the Ashton Care Home on John Street, Hinckley, they reviewed CCTV recordings which had been taken over a period of four days. The footage showed numerous occasions where staff failed to wear correct PPE. Sometimes, carers wore masks around their necks whilst assisting residents.

Worryingly, there were three recorded incidents where staff placed medicines into residents’ mouths without gloves, aprons, or even washing their hands!

Using CCTV to protect from risk of COVID-19

During the current pandemic, this kind of behaviour is all the more concerning. A report written by inspectors visiting the care home said, “This placed people at significant risk of harm from infections and increased the potential risks from COVID-19.”

The CCTV also captured “numerous” incidents of staff using mobile phones whilst assisting residents, or simply ignoring the residents entirely.

As a result of the inspection, the inspectors rated the home as inadequate.  They will now bring in special measures to bring it up to standard.

Without CCTV in the care home, this kind of behaviour could have been allowed to continue indefinitely, placing all 56 residents at significant risk of harm, or even death from COVID-19.

Using CCTV surveillance in care homes

Surveillance technology can help care home managers to:

  • Protect residents from the risk of unsafe care or treatment.
  • Keep the care home secure.
  • Help residents to stay safe without a need to restrict their activities.

If you use CCTV to keep care home residents safe, then you should treat that CCTV as part of their care.  It therefore must meet the regulations under the Health and Social Care Act. The Act does not permit covert surveillance; residents, staff and visitors must be informed that CCTV is in operation.
To talk to us today about installing CCTV in your care home, give us a call on 01257 460332 or send us a message through the website.