Welcome to Care Campaign for the Vulnerable Let's Talk About... Elderly Care PODCAST.  I am delighted to welcome Ben Wilson Development Director at Care Protect Ltd.  Care Campaign for the Vulnerable champions and promotes the use of safety monitoring in all UK care and nursing homes.  Our passion saw us hand in a petition in 2017 to 10 Downing Street with thousands of signatures to support mandatory use of CCTV in all caring environments that would offer better transparency and safety in the care of our vulnerable elderly and good, dedicated care workers.  The success of what we do here at CCFTV bring many prolific providers to invite us in to discuss with families in care and staff  the benefits safety monitoring can assist with in the day to day operating in care homes.  We want to learn more about the type of systems that are available on the market and the ones which are the most effective in evidencing abuse, wilful neglect, preventable or non preventable accidents/incidents.  A negative care experience by our Director to her own mother Ellen did not dissuade her that there are some very special people working within the care sector.  She saw a time for change after a 'out of the blue' phone call from a whistleblower telling her,  her mother and other vulnerable residents were being treated badly and suffering wilful neglect.  The purpose of safety monitoring was to draw attention to the plight of so many people often without a advocate to speak out for them and to call for much closer scrutiny of the care they receive every day.  Issues her own mother faced she witnessed first hand meaning she could step in and address the shortcomings.  However, it slowly dawned on her that many older people in care didn’t have a family advocate or friend that visited regularly and effectively they were voiceless.  Jayne was also confided to by care workers complaining they were rarely supported and often understaffed with fingers of blame from families pointed directly at them if accidents happened while caring for loved ones.  As a result, Care Campaign for the Vulnerable was born. CCFTV really got some traction after our Government petition process and as a result we soon found we were overwhelmed by families and care staff who were raising concerns about care. Families sent CCFTV horrific photos of loved ones injuries sustained in care and telling us when queried and wanting more details to what happened Care Providers responses were remarkably similar to my own experiences.  Families were having to accept responses of ''we don't know how it happened'', “must have fallen''.  No witnesses exist, no one could be held to account because of the lack of evidence, therefore no idea if the injuries could have been prevented or indeed, if they were wilfully inflicted.  The anxiety, upset and distress that those responses elicited from families was palpable.  No family could really understand why when an older person with cuts, bruises, fractures, pressure sores, no evidence hardly ever existed to explain such.  The natural concern always related to a possibility of abuse yet providers often seemed unfazed by what was a terrible trauma for the family,  the resident and in many cases the care staff.  Over the last three decades, the incidences of poor care and abuses have become more frequent.  Indeed a recent newspaper poll article confirmed that after a Freedom of Information request from many UK police forces, results confirmed that violent crimes against elderly people had increased by 260% over the last ten years.  So with this in mind, we are going to be talking to Ben Wilson and learn more about the benefits to safety monitoring when caring for our most vulnerable elderly. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/letstalkaboutelderly/message