CAMERAS could become a reality in the borough’s care homes after the Government’s health watchdog published new advice.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has released fresh guidance on the use of hidden cameras for families, carers and care service users.

HC-One, which runs Rose Court in Radcliffe, last year undertook consultation which could see it become the first care home provider in the country to install surveillance cameras in the rooms of vulnerable patients.

The steps the CQC and HC-One have taken have been welcomed by the family of a man who was abused in a Bury specialist hospital.

Last May, care workers Rita Page and Lynette Crook were each jailed for seven months after they were filmed verbally abusing and slapping 23-year-old Danny Moran at the Priory Highbank Centre in Walmersley Road.

They were caught mistreating Mr Moran, who was left brain damaged after a car crash when he was 17, after his family installed a secret camera in his room.

After the court case, relatives launched a campaign for fixed cameras to film all incapacitated care home patients.

Jim Moran, Mr Moran’s uncle, said: “How many people without a voice are being abused in caring institutions today? How can we help them?

“The answer is simple. We can provide them with a voice and let the camera speak for them.

“Place a camera on them 24 hours a day. The cost is negligible but the results are life changing.”

The CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care, Andrea Sutcliffe, said: “For some, cameras or other forms of surveillance, whether openly used by services or hidden by families, are the answer. Others feel this is an invasion of people’s privacy and dignity.

“Our information explains what people can do if they are worried about someone’s care and what they need to think about .”

The CQC first published advice for care homes in December and care staff union GMB said it recognised a “degree of inevitability” over the use of cameras but was urging the public to question how cameras would be used before installing them.

Justin Bowden, GMB National Officer for the care sector, said: “Cameras are not the answer to the crisis in the care sector, more money is.”

Last year HC-One, which runs 27 care homes across Greater Manchester, asked more than 12,000 residents, relatives and staff whether it should become the first provider in the country to implement an opt-in, visible camera scheme.

More than half (53 per cent) of residents nationwide opposed their use but cameras were supported by 87 per cent of relatives and 63 per cent of staff.