News

CCFTV has been campaigning for in excess of 11 years for widespread use of independent safety monitoring across the elderly care sector. Ref:- https://www.signature-care-homes.co.uk/signature-senior-lifestyle-partners-with-care-campaign-for-the-vulnerable-ccftv

In most cases caught by hidden cameras, the care providers involved carry on as they always have, with little or no change to their practices.

Recently, however, we have noted one corporate company really stepping up to respond positively following an incident in one of their homes. Reigate Grange is a Signature Senior Living Care Home, a provider rightly challenged by the family, the regulator and other commissioning stakeholders.

Refreshingly, the Directors of Signature Senior Living accepted that much needed to be done as a result. They didn’t just remove the offending employees and carry on as before, seeking to hide behind ‘management changes’ and an apology. Instead, they invited an independent safety monitoring company to undertake a review of their service at Reigate, using camera monitoring systems and a specialist team of remote health and social care professionals. That team has been able to log in at random times over a 24/7 period and view care delivery, observe medicine rounds, watch a dining experience, assess personal care and listen to the interaction between residents and carers. As a result of their findings, Signature is now proposing to adopt those systems across all of their dementia units, acknowledging that vulnerable people who cannot articulate themselves will have the additional support of the safety monitoring team to review the care service they receive. https://www.signature-care-homes.co.uk/blog/safety-monitoring-in-signature-care-homes

CCFTV has waited many years for this breakthrough. We were delighted to hear of this progress and decided to visit Reigate recently to assess the impact of these changes for ourselves. During that visit, the CEO and members of the management team at Signature also hosted a visit for another large corporate provider who having had similar issues, was considering the use of safety monitoring to safeguard the vulnerable people living at some of their care homes. We noted that staff at Reigate expressed how positive they felt about the camera led service. Indeed many of those carers stated they had felt very let down by those former colleagues who had been abusive and therefore welcomed the transparency monitoring systems provided.

The team at Signature and Reigate Grange should be commended. Many care homes across the UK will experience similar issues, but sadly, in most locations we will never know - or indeed have evidence to confirm without doubt - how an elderly person was injured. As a result, abusers will thrive, undeterred and undiscovered. In Reigate and across other Signature homes, the message is clear, abuse will never be tolerated. By adopting safety monitoring systems, a deterrent effect is provided, care practices are randomly assessed every day and independent reviewers will ensure transparency is a priority, with families having the reassurance that their loved one is getting the care service they were promised. In our experience, families know that on occasions when a care home faces operational challenges, they know a service may not be perfect for a period of time. However, what they want to know is that every possible safeguard is in place to explain any untoward event and that a provider is open and honest about failings. In those circumstances, families can retain trust and confidence in a service even when an incident has occurred.