Calls for CCTV in care homes
A HOST of celebrities are backing a campaign to get CCTV cameras installed inside residential care homes to stop frail people being abused.
Britain has more than 21,000 care homes looking after more than 300,000 OAPs, nearly two thirds of whom are in their 80s.
But only one per cent of these are rated as “outstanding” by regulators – and a BBC probe found 15,000 complaints about abuse and neglect were made by families to care homes in 2015.
Figures out last November showed that complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman were up by a fifth year on year.
Some concerned relatives have even resorted to installing their own secret cameras.
Male model-turned businessman Tony Stowell has set up a campaign to make owners keep a closer eye on staff after witnessing the suffering of a family member at a residential home.
He said: “CCTV cameras should be compulsory in all care homes. Staff should be properly trained but we all know there are some who aren’t. And there have been welldocumented cases of abuse. CCTV would stop this.”
Tony, 48, from Hull, is backed by TV presenter and Mirror columnist Fiona Phillips, who lost both parents to Alzheimer’s.
Mirror agony aunt Coleen Nolan, whose mum Maureen died with Alzheimer’s aged 81, also sent a personal message to Tony last week, saying: “It’s such an important campaign.”
Other high- profile backers include Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips, whose dad died from dementia, model Ji l l y Johnson, actresses Diane Keen and Su Pollard, Benidorm star Crissy Rock, comedian David Baddiel, whose dad has the condition, actor Dean Gaffney, newsreader Alastair Stewart and DJ Mike Read.
Tony said: “I’ve visited care homes up and down the country and in Europe. We are like the Third World in comparison. I didn’t find anywhere here I would want to live and they cost £600 to £1,000 a week.”
In one home, Tony said he heard a woman fall down a flight of stairs: “It’s the most awful sound I have ever heard.
“How this lady had been able to slip past carers without being noticed is really worrying. She died two weeks later.”
Legal experts say CCTV can be used in homes if it abides by data protection, human rights, health and social care laws.
Tony added: “It will show up people who aren’t doing what they should – they are the ones bathing and changing people.”
He has been unable to raise government support despite writing to his MP David Davis and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, but he is determined to trigger a parliamentary debate.
It is not known how much it would cost to put CCTV in care homes but Tony insisted: “Care comes above cost. When you see care home owners driving around in their Range Rovers, it strikes me that they can all afford it.”
To support Tony’s campaign, follow him at facebook.com/tony.stowell.96.