A trial of CCTV cameras inside the rooms of aged care residents has begun in SA. 

A pilot program at two South Australian homes has been launched two years after it was originally promised. 

The program comes out of the Royal Commission into Aged Care and Quality, which uncovered shocking cases of abuse and mistreatment in nursing homes.

It is designed to offer new options to elderly people who do not want to move into nursing homes. 

The CCTV systems can detect excessive noise and movement, alerting reviewers to check the footage to see if an incident has occurred.

Families can watch their relatives in their bedrooms with their phones, but residents will not know when they are being watched.

South Australian Health Minister Stephen Wade said the two-year delay in starting the 12-month trial was necessary for the “best possible product” to be tested.

“We are investing primarily in the quality of the product — that did mean we are using fewer sites — but we are still confident that the basic value of the technology will be able to be properly tested throughout the two sites,” he said.