Airthrie News – January/February 2019

AirthrieNewsJanFeb

2019

Welcome to our first Articles of 2019, Airthrie has a big year ahead with many things planned. First we would like to update you on how our first two months of the year have been:

Residents had a great Christmas and new year and have had a great start to 2019, They have got back into routine, are attending all their previous activities and at the start of January some residents started new college courses in Music and Art.

We are also currently in the process of switching from providing Residential care to providing Supported Living you can read more about this in the article below.

We will update you on any further changes or events in the future.

Supported Living

As mentioned above Airthrie is currently in the process of switching from Residential to Supported Living, But what does this mean?

Well our residents should not feel too unsettled by the change as some of the service they receive will be the same, they will still live in the same houses and will still receive support from the same set of staff but this support will be aimed more towards promoting independence for example Residents will do their own shopping, cooking, cleaning etc. with, when required, support from a member of staff.

As mentioned above Residents will still live in the same houses but under supported living they will be Tenants with their own tenancy agreements, this means we have had to make some changes to make both 56 and 58 feel like their own homes rather than a residential home, for example we will be removing the offices and relocating admin/management staff to another office.

We are aiming to complete the transition to supported living by the 25th of March.

Body Cameras in Care?

At Airthrie we are currently registered to have Cameras in communal areas and we have them placed in our hallways and garden however there have been recent discussions regarding the implementation of Body Cameras into Hospitals and Care settings, the organisation Calla are looking to trial their body camera in Care home settings as they believe body cameras will be useful in protecting both the wearer and service user however some believe there are potential issues with consent and privacy.

Body cameras have already been used in Policing for a while and have been shown to successfully alter and diffuse aggressive or challenging behaviour, this was also shown in Calla’s trials with the Northamptonshire NHS Trust where staff noticed that the cameras had altered the aggressive behaviour of some patients. This shows that the cameras can be successful in helping to alter behaviours, they could also be useful in helping identify any safeguarding issues as the camera will capture any interactions between Carer and Service user.

However some issues have been raised in regards to consent and privacy, although the cameras have a front facing screen allowing people to see if they are being recorded it may be difficult for a service user who lacks capacity to identify this or consent to any filming at all, There are also privacy issues, Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 outlines that everybody has the “right to respect for your private and family life” this article protects a persons private life, family, home and correspondence, with service users in a care home setting viewed as being at home this could be seen as a potential infringement of Article 8. Some of these issues have been negated by the secure Computer app which is used alongside the cameras, all footage is sent to the app where it could be looked at to help identify any members of staff who may be filming inappropriately or not using the cameras at all.

Calla will likely be trialling their cameras in Care home settings soon and it remains to be seen how well the cameras will be received by Service users, family members and staff in Care home settings.

Comments are closed.