Types of cameras that can be used in certain residential and long-term care facilities

In Québec, there are a number of different types of residential facilities. In some of them, such as senior and alternative housing and CHSLDs, different types of cameras are available.

The use of clinical cameras in the rooms of senior and alternative homes is based on the residents’ needs. It must be seen as a tool for prevention and complementary intervention to help identify the following situations with the residents:

• special situations
• problems
• causes
• psychological, social, biological, and environmental needs

They can allow for faster interventions, if needed. The objective is to improve the residents’ quality of life by respecting their rhythms (waking and sleeping periods) and increasing their quality time through more effective and relevant interventions.

It is important to underline:

• A camera in a bedroom is used following clinical evaluation. It is part of a personalized intervention plan for the resident.
• Operating a camera in the resident’s room requires the free and informed consent of the person in residence or of the person who represents them. This consent can be revoked at any time.
• The camera is used as a complementary tool in response to precise clinical situations such as:
  • respecting sleep
  • preventing falls
  • behavior problems
• It does not replace the presence of personnel and it is not a means of surveying the providing of care and services. The goal is strictly centered on the safety and well-being of the resident.
• A switch allows the resident or a family member to turn off the camera as needed.
• The images and recordings, if applicable, must respect confidentiality and privacy standards.

Common and public space are equipped with security cameras to ensure the general safety of everyone.

It is possible for a resident or the person representing them to install a monitoring device in their room or private space when this is justified. A monitoring device is a technological device or means, hidden or not, that can record images or sounds. The monitoring device might be:

• a security camera
• an electronic tablet
• a smartphone

The installation in targeted residential environments, i.e. CHSLDs, senior and alternative housing, is only permitted to ensure the safety of the resident or of their belongings. It can also ensure the quality of the care and services they receive, in particular to identify cases of abuse. However, the use of any monitoring device in a residential facility must respect regulations to preserve the right to privacy of those filmed or recorded.

It is important to underline:

• Upon admission, the residential facility must inform the resident or the person representing them of the regulations concerning the use of monitoring devices on the premises. It must also designate a person to provide the resident with the support needed to respect the regulations.
• The installation must be done by the resident or the person representing them, but with the resident’s consent, unless it is impossible to have this consent.
• The installation of the monitoring device must be re-evaluated at least every six months. It must also consider that the targeted residential facilities (senior and alternative housing and CHSLD) must reinforce trust between the resident and any member of the care team, such as the accompanying caregiver or unit manager.
• When the monitoring device is installed in a shared room, the consent must be obtained from all the room’s residents, unless the consent is not needed.
• The monitoring device must be pointed in a way to respect the privacy of the other residents in the targeted residential facility. It must not record sounds or images from outside of the room. Neither should it record sounds or images coming from a bathroom, except in cases where this is justified.
• Monitoring must not be continuous, except when justified by the purpose of the installation.
• The installation of monitoring equipment must not add costs to the targeted residential facility unless the establishment agrees to this.
• The confidentiality, use and protection of the recordings, as well as their destruction is the responsibility of the resident or the person representing them.
• The targeted residential facility must indicate the possible presence of monitoring devices without specifying their exact location.

The use of monitoring devices by residents is governed by the Règlement concernant les modalités d’utilisation de mécanismes de surveillance par un usager hébergé dans une installation maintenue par un établissement qui exploite un centre d’hébergement et de soins de longue durée (CHSLD) (in French only).