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The president asserts that the government is moving forward despite a week of «high political tension»
The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, announced on Saturday a shock plan to improve the quality of nursing homes for the elderly and people with disabilities in Catalonia, with a budget of over 20 million euros and the creation of 504 positions.
He presented this plan during an event in Esparreguera (Barcelona) with the Minister of Rights and Social Inclusion, Mánica Martínez Bravo, and the Mayor, Juan Jurado.
Illa stated that the priority is for a citizen to be able to live with maximum autonomy at home, but there is a part of the population that ends up needing a nursing home, and the population pyramid «is what it is», as life expectancy increases, and we must care for the elderly.
He emphasized that the government continues to function and move forward despite the past week being «very tense, especially in the last two days», implicitly referring to all the controversy surrounding the resignation of the Psoe leader, Santos Cerdán.
Life Extension and Quality
The minister stated that «the extension of life expectancy must be accompanied by an extension of dignity», which includes improving nursing homes with quality public care.
The plan includes 5 million euros for technological improvements (from the next generation of European funds), 9 million for urgent adaptation works, 5 million (expandable to 10) for grants to local entities, and 5.3 for new positions.
The government aims to be more present in areas with greater needs (such as rural areas or those with limited private offerings), develop intermediate services, provide support to the elderly living at home, modernize, make teams more efficient, and increase the number of positions.
New Positions
Through inter-ministerial collaboration with municipalities, the government will create a total of 504 new residential positions with a budget of 5.3 million euros by 2025, with an annual cost of 8.5 million.
These positions will be created through an administrative agreement, will be in public teams of municipalities and other local entities, and will be added to the 1,173 already opened since the beginning of the term for the elderly, disabled, and those with social issues stemming from mental illnesses.
Additionally, 364 school exit positions for children with disabilities are being created, to be launched in the next school year; and in total, the new positions would be the first 2,041 of the 6,000 that the government promised to create.
Quality Improvement
Technological improvements will be incorporated into Generalitat centers to enhance management and service quality, with 5 million from the EU’s next generation funds, and staffing will be reviewed and redefined.
Professional criteria and profiles will be flexible, staffing will be adjusted according to center priorities, and expenses will be reduced through fewer substitutions and decreased absenteeism.
A training plan for staff management in their own centers will be implemented, and 9.1 million will be allocated to address the «material deficiencies» in centers throughout Catalonia.
Transparency and Control
The 16 directly managed centers will be incorporated into the quality system already implemented in delegated management residences, based on 300 indicators, and a new set of transparency indicators «understandable to the public» will be defined.
The government will conduct satisfaction surveys tailored to the cognitive abilities of residents and family members in the 16 self-managed centers during the last four months of this year, and based on the results, will extend this to the 106 delegated management centers in 2026.
Evaluation actions of the impact of residential services will be carried out using international life scales, as well as an accountability system for all applicable measures in the set of contracted and public positions.
In addition, a new inspection and registry service IT tool will allow the publication of inspection minutes, ensuring the protection of personal data.
Grants and Registry
The Generalitat will convene extraordinary grants, already published, for local entities and the institutional public sector to carry out equipment investments for the creation of positions and rehabilitation in residential centers and day services included in the public care social services network, with a budget of 5 million expandable to 10.
Likewise, the registry of social entities, services, and establishments will be modified to make it «more flexible» and accommodate services and projects that were not previously considered.
Among other things, a combination of various services in the same facility will be promoted, the open service platform model will be encouraged, architectural innovation will be promoted, and some structural requirements will be simplified in existing centers.