Dear LPG,

I often think one of the biggest dilemmas faced as we get older surrounds how we want to live our lives.  Perhaps the biggest fear is that dementia might make it extremely difficult to remain in your own home, but so many physical obstacles can also get in the way. 

There is no doubt about it, if at all possible, when living alone without some help is no longer an option, all concerned are happier with anything that allows us to continue to live in our own homes because doing so has a much smaller effect on what is paid out by the authorities in most cases; especially if the local authority is going to have to pay the bills.  I think that I would rather be at home if it happened to me because there is something special about having your own space.

But living at home with visiting carers comes with other problems.  I am sure that they are not all the same, but you cannot help but see the television programmes which throw up the question of carer abuse these days.  I am particularly talking about theft of possessions and money.

I was watching a programme about carers, and the abuse that can happen to vulnerable elderly people when a carer is left in charge, not so long ago and noted that the relatives of quite a few people who suspected that something was going on, had set up a couple of CCTV cameras in parts of the house where valuables are kept with the result that some carers were caught in the act.  While I accept that there are many carers who are absolutely trustworthy and the television viewer only sees the worst of what can happen, the surveillance cameras seem to be effective, but it occurred to me that as the devices get cheaper and really easy to install  the real question is how legal is it to do this.

I now have a front door bell which allows me to see everything that goes on in my front garden as soon as the movement sensor is triggered, and know that they are becoming cheaper and easier to install but... 

Do you have to wait until things start to go missing?  Is evidence found admissible in court?  What are the privacy implications?  Do the carers need to know that CCTV is present in the house they are working in? 

I have got all the questions but none of the answers.  I thought this might be something that another reader might be able to shed some light on.

 HH, New Cross

LPG has no answers but we did find some interesting information on the subject…

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