The Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services proposes to penalize the archipelago and Catalonia with funds for mismanagement
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 19 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Canary Islands have been at the bottom of the country in the dependency system in the last year with a growth in the waiting list of 23.1%, according to the XXII opinion of the State Observatory for Dependency prepared by the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services.
The archipelago and Catalonia – where the waiting list increases by 7% – bring together “more than 40%” of the waiting list of dependent people in all of Spain.
“It is truly worrying, the objective of the shock plan has not been met, but it is that these two communities have increased the waiting list, there is no explanation for why they have not been able to reverse it with the budget increase,” the president added. of the State Observatory for Dependency, José Manuel Ramírez.
The Canary Islands managed to increase the number of beneficiaries in the system by 10.8% in the last year, but it continues to occupy the last place in the table in people served over the total dependent population, with barely 10.4%.
In addition, it is also at the bottom in the dependency limbo, with 38.5% of people with a recognized right but without effective provision, and on the assessment scale, with just 1.6 points.
In Spain, the number of people cared for in the Dependency Care System (SAAD) has increased in the last year by 97,912.
The Association observes an “activation” in the SAAD that it blames on the shock plan launched by the Government, although it criticizes the “bureaucracy and the inexperience of some regional governments” that have not allowed the objective of reducing the list of waiting.
“We must assess the budget increase of 623 million euros plus 600 million that we are going to receive in 2023, but the bureaucracy and inexperience of some Autonomous Communities are making the System of Autonomy and Dependency Care not as agile and is even leading to failing to meet the objective of the Shock Plan in terms of reducing the waiting list”, Ramírez summarized.
According to the opinion of the State Observatory for Dependency, in Spain, the 396,787 people who are waiting for a procedure are being “abandoned without attention”. The average waiting time is 421 days.
ALMOST 125,000 APPLICANTS PENDING TO BE ASSESSED
At the beginning of this year, 317,942 people were on the agency’s waiting lists. Specifically, 193,346 people are in dependency limbo (people assessed with some degree and pending receiving the benefit or service to which they are entitled), to which must be added the 124,596 applicants who are pending assessment.
With the data offered through the transparency portal, we must add 44,656 people with an Individual Care Program (PIA) resolution, and who do not receive benefits or services, and 34,189 applicants that the CCAA have not registered and are pending evaluation. 44% of neglected people are Grades III or II.
The association recalls that the shock plan for dependency should have served to reduce the people on the dependency waiting list by 60,000 in 2021, 25.8%, however, it has reduced it by 16.7%, 38,807 persons. At this rate, he warns that “it would take five years to achieve full attention.”
By CCAA, the Community of Madrid, which has reduced the waiting list by 7,582 people, and Aragon, by 2,032 people, stand out as positive. They also make a special mention to the Valencian Community that “approves” with a 5 the Opinion of the Unit after 15 years suspending.
The Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services asks the Ministry of Social Rights that, when making the distribution of funds, “penalize” the autonomous communities such as the Canary Islands and Catalonia that, instead of reducing, have increased the list of waiting. “It is unacceptable that this criterion is not taken into account, it must be the main indicator,” Ramírez stressed.
46,300 DECEASED ON WAITING LISTS
In addition, the president of the association has lamented that, while 46,300 people died in Spain on the dependency waiting lists, 75.7 million euros were not spent from the amounts budgeted at the minimum level by the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030. With these funds, they indicate, 13,000 new people could have been served.
According to the Dependency Opinion, 46,300 people died in Spain on the dependency waiting lists, 18,356 people pending resolution of the degree of dependency and 27,944 without having been able to exercise their rights derived from the condition of a person in a situation of dependency.
Regarding deaths, the document also indicates that, in 2021, 149,292 people died with a benefit resolution. While the number of people who died with a home benefit resolution hardly varies compared to 2020, the Association does see “significant” that during 2021 24,866 (34.18%) people who lived in residences have died less than in 2020.
Regarding benefits and services, the study warns that they are “increasingly less intense and insufficient.” Thus, it details that the economic benefits for family care have an average monthly amount of 236.49 euros (currently received by 480,000 people).
In addition, the Association warns that “only” 67,225 non-professional caregivers are registered in the special agreement (13.93% of the total number of caregivers), which means that “more than 70 million” are not executed. euros of what was budgeted by the Government of Spain.
INSUFFICIENT ECONOMIC BENEFITS
As for the economic benefits linked to the acquisition of a service, they vary depending on it, but they present “insufficient amounts”, according to the Opinion. For example, the linked benefit to pay for a residential care place ranges around 423 euros per month (Grade II) and 531 euros per month (Grade III). Taking into account home help, this presents average hourly intensities of 33.6 hours per month, something “clearly insufficient” for the Association.
In addition, as they lament, after almost two years of the pandemic “it has not been possible to recover residential and day center places (1,129 fewer residential places and 4,732 fewer day center places)”.
On the other hand, on the generation of employment in the sector, the report highlights that 27,453 new jobs have been generated by increasing the number of people receiving services from the system by 70,780.
