Yorkshire man Tony Stowell vows to continue campaign to get cameras in care homes after the death of his mother

Hull man Tony Stowell was nominated for a Pride of Britain award for his work campaigning for cameras to be installed in all care homes in Britain.

His mother Antonia lived in a care home before her death in May at the age of 87.

Concerns about abuse in care homes led Mr Stowell to begin a campaign for compulsory CCTV in care homes, which is now called Antonia’s Law.

Mr Stowell has received support from celebrities such as Coleen Nolan and X Factor runner-up Andy Abraham for his campaign which he started when a family member went into a care home.

Though his mother’s death with coronavirus symptoms Hull Royal Infirmary remains “unbearable”, Mr Stowell has vowed to continue his campaign for a change in the law to make cameras in residential homes compulsory, especially in areas like bedrooms and bathrooms where abuse most commonly takes place.

“Cameras will not stop everything but they can give family members some transparency,” he said.

He added that family members can only do so much when someone moves into a home and they have to have a lot of trust that their relative is being looked after, something he found difficult with his own mother.

He said: “I was always making sure she had everything she needed and the support she needed but sadly when you go into care, the system takes that away from you.”

A survey carried out last year revealed 45 per cent of care home staff do not have any CCTV in their workplace.

Mr Stowell is hoping the government will create new laws as a matter of urgency to address this and bring Britain into line with countries like the Netherlands, where CCTV in care homes is the norm.

An Early Day Motion which went through Parliament in February received cross party support, something Mr Stowell considers a big achievement in his three-year campaign.

Up until his mother died, Mr Stowell was under a court order that prevented him from identifying her in the media or talking about her.

This was put in place in what Mr Stowell considers a misguided effort to protect his mother from unwanted attention, which made it difficult to advocate for her properly.

He said: “I couldn't identify my beautiful mum, she was a human being with rights.”

In 2018, the Care Quality Commission received more than 67,000 allegations of abuse - a figure that has almost doubled in five years.

Mr Stowell said he is “inundated with messages”, especially as many people have lost loved ones in the pandemic.

He does not think he can run the campaign alone for much longer because of the work involved but hopes that the momentum that is gathering will mean more people join his cause and speak out.

He said: “Eventually it’s going to happen.”

A spokesperson from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates the private use of CCTV, said: “Recording and sharing CCTV images of any identifiable individuals needs to be done in line with data protection laws. This includes letting people know that you are collecting the footage, keeping the images secure, and only disclosing the images when it is necessary to do so.

“If anyone has concerns about how their data has been handled, they can report these concerns to the ICO and we can look into the details.”

The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment.

More information about Mr Stowell's campaign is available on his Facebook page.