Thirteen months ago, the Ministry of Social Rights and the autonomous communities signed a new model of residences for the elderly and dependent people. The news went slightly unnoticed, as it usually happens with social issues, always at the tail end of political debates, despite the fact that the change that was embodied in that agreement (the Accreditation and Quality of Centers and Services of the System for the Autonomy and Care for Dependency, which updated the 2008 one) suppose a dignified treatment, with all that this word includes, to the people who live in residences.
That agreement tries to put an end to overcrowded centers, without privacy, in which people lose their identity and are treated like children. The new model that was approved by the communities (with only 10 votes in favor and 9 against, including Catalonia and the Basque Country for competence reasons) focuses first and foremost on people and their rights, which they stay throughout their lives, and to turn these places into a real home.
The text foresees a series of measures among which the limitation to 75, 90 or 120 places stands out depending on the location of the center (new residences). These limits will not apply to those that are already built.
Life in the new residential centers will be organized in small coexistence units, with a maximum of 15 people. These people will have a living room, a dining room and a space to prepare food, and they will have a free connection and devices for accessing the internet, both in common and private spaces. In short, like apartments within residences.
Those already built will have a deadline to convert the centers until December 31, 2029, a decision that was harshly criticized by the management of the private centers.
It has been proven that physical space and environments have a great influence on the well-being and health of those who inhabit them, and for this reason the people who make up each coexistence unit will participate in the personalization and decoration of their spaces and the arrangement of furniture.
Respect for privacy involves having a space for each resident. The agreement establishes 65% of rooms for individual use in the public spaces of the newly built centers and, in addition, all rooms will have access to an adapted bathroom. The families and the resident will participate in the decoration.
In addition, it is established that, within 2 years, care plans free from subjection and coercion must be fully implemented in day care and residential centers. According to Social Services, physical, mechanical, chemical or pharmacological restraints do not cure, do not help with a diagnosis, are not therapeutic, nor a model of ethical intervention, they reduce people’s capacity and are the cause of serious physical complications (lacerations, lacerations, strangulation, pain, bruising, increased risk of pressure ulcers, atrophy, etc.) and psychological (social isolation, loss of dignity, humiliation, helplessness, increased cognitive impairment, depression and delirium).
In order to put an end to the subjections and give dignified treatment to the residents, it is necessary to increase the number of professionals, currently under-equipped. The ministry and the communities agreed to improve the ratio of workers per person with a disability: in general terms, in residential centers of joint direct care it will gradually increase from 0.39 in December 2023 to 0.51 in December 2029 in elderly people and from 0.50 to 0.58 in people with disabilities.
