Minister Wyatt Open To More Cameras In Aged Care
Ken Wyatt, the minister responsible for aged-care facilities, is open to mandating security cameras in all nursing home rooms.
Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt is open to placing security cameras in all nursing home rooms so any potential abuses can be detected.
Mr Wyatt is also supportive of a star-rating system for residential aged-care facilities, ahead of a royal commission into the sector which will begin by the end of this year.
The minister believes were it not for secret cameras hidden in agedcare suites by family members, several high profile cases of violence and neglect would never have come to light.
He acknowledges there are privacy concerns around installing mandatory cameras, but says the discussion is not off the table.
“I can appreciate the families who are very strongly supportive now of cameras within those rooms,” Mr Wyatt told ABC radio on Tuesday. “None of this would have been known without that footage as to how those individuals were treated.”
The minister is on board with an aged care star-rating system similar to the My School website, which profiles almost 10,000 Australian schools.
Mr Wyatt said the majority of aged-care facilities provide quality service, but there is an “insidious” side to some centres which the public does not see.
He has been looking to the United Kingdom for inspiration, which has a traffic light style system.