Nurses have voted to oppose the use of covert filming in nursing and residential homes, saying it would not stop abuse and could lead to a culture of “remote supervision”.
CCTV footage has helped expose mistreatment at a number of care homes in recent years, including Winterbourne View, near Bristol, which houses people with learning disabilities, and last year’s exposé of the Old Deanery home for the elderly in Essex.
On Monday morning, about 80% of delegates at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) annual congress in Bournemouth voted against the use of covert filming.
Speaking after the vote, RCN’s chief executive and general secretary, Dr Peter Carter, said the public had legitimate concerns about abuse at care homes but that filming would probably only catch “gratuitous cruelty” and not neglect.
“I don’t think it’s the answer to the problem,” he said. “We have got covert filming in every high street in the country. Does that stop all sorts of inappropriate behaviour on Saturday nights?
“I think the real solution is to ensure healthcare nurses and care homes have proper supervision and there are properly qualified people ensuring the work is being carried out in the way we all wish.”
Gill Cooksey, from the RCN’s Suffolk branch, who proposed the motion against the use of covert filming, said those who commit abuse would find a way around it. “There are other and better ways the RCN should push for. Is this not just the inadequacy of managers not managing their staff effectively?” she said.
“What next? Installation at hospitals, GP surgeries? What are the cameras for? To protect the residents, to protect the staff or to replace direct supervision with remote supervision.”
Supporters of the motion also raised concerns about what would happen to the footage and the potential for it to be edited in a misleading way.
The care home scandals prompted debate over the issue of filming. A Comres poll of 2,000 people, carried out for HC-One, which runs 227 homes across the UK, found that 80% either supported or strongly supported installation of visible cameras.
As a result, HC-One, which had one of its homes featured by a BBC Panorama programme on abuse, asked its residents if they wanted an opt-in CCTV scheme but the proposal was put on hold after 53% opposed the idea.
In February, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued guidance about the use of hidden cameras, in which it said opinion was divided on the issue and that people’s privacy, including that of staff, should be taken into account.
When the CQC issued its advice, the care minister at the time, Norman Lamb, said cameras “have helped to expose terrible cruelty and neglectful care”.
Laura Falconer from the RCN’s Hertfordshire branch told the congress: “I can see no benefits to nurses or to patients from filming what we are doing on a day-to-day basis and imposing surveillance in what is effectively someone’s home.”
There was little opposition to the motion from the podium, although one speaker suggested footage could be helpful in staff training.
- This article was amended on 22 June 2015 to clarify HC-One’s position regarding the possible use of CCTV in its care homes.
