The admission of psychiatric patients to retirement homes where staff lack resources and specific training has transformed the Assisted Living Facility of Maiores de Oleiros (La Coruña) into a pressure cooker “on the verge of exploding”. This is what at least the workers of the center, the second largest of those directly publicly managed by the Xunta de Galicia, say in a conversation with elDiario.es. “The facilities are not equipped for this type of patient and the healthcare team is not specialized in this area,” they say. The Department of Social Policy, contacted by this newspaper, assures that it combines “its fair attention with the well-being of other users”.
The problem occurred a few months ago. elDiario.es reported about it in May last year. The Galician Health Service (Sergas) has started referring psychiatric patients under the age of 65 to public nursing homes. But they did it without preparing the premises or the professionals, according to what they themselves denounced. In Oleiros, history repeats itself and the staff decided to file a complaint with Valedora do Pobo. “We do this in search of protection after having sent several letters to the Administration without having received a response or solution to the growing problems of this center”, indicates the text, “which has reached an unsustainable point”. The residence has 284 places, including 19 vacant places, according to data offered by Xunta in the Single Register of Entities Providing Social Services.
The arrival of psychiatric patients on the same floors, corridors or rooms as “dependent elderly people with pathologies typical of geriatric age” complicated daily life in the center. “This requires very specific knowledge and action protocols which today are non-existent,” say the workers. Asked about this question, the Department of Social Policy does not respond to anything specific and refers to the “new model of residences in Galicia” which, it adds, “includes the creation of specialized psychogeriatric units”. In Oleiros, for the moment, they do not exist.
The situation denounced by the workers causes conflicts between residents and employees. “The management of the center turns a deaf ear to the incident reports sent to it,” they say. La Xunta simply reminds that it is necessary to “destigmatize people with mental health problems”, with which the staff agrees. But he adds: “We should also not stigmatize geriatric patients, who live day to day with real fear. »
In addition to the lack of protocols or training courses for dealing with psychiatric patients, they say, there is a problem more strictly linked to work: the workload is unaffordable, especially during the post-operative shift. -noon. There are three caregivers for 44 residents, several of whom are very dependent, “and the staffing ratio is not appropriate, which is not the same for all degrees of dependency and should be much higher for psychiatric profiles”. Asked about this, the Xunta does not go into details either. “Sergas has paid increased attention to people who, with serious mental disorders, reside in social health centers, through specific programs with psychiatrists and nursing staff specialized in mental health,” he says.
Deterioration of facilities
Workers also deplore the lack of activities for the residents of Oleiros. Socio-cultural activities or occupational therapy are only provided in the morning during the week. “In the afternoon, the geriatric residents only watch television, they sleep… and in many cases this gives rise to conflicts between them,” reports the letter addressed to Valedora do Pobo, “and the young people suffering from psychiatric pathologies, without social or professional reintegration programs, they are separated and hidden in centers for very dependent people, stigmatized by the department itself. “advocates for assistance, awareness and, above all, for inclusion”, and that the treatment of dependency “includes specific psychosocial assistance programs”.
What the Ministry of Social Policy announced a few weeks ago was an investment of 940,000 euros for “the complete renovation” of the building’s roofs. This is not the only problem arising from the deterioration of the equipment and facilities of the Oleiros residence. Valedora’s writings include numerous incidents: leaks, uneven floors in which crane wheels get stuck, ceilings that come loose or even falling tiles, like the one that recently injured an employee.
The squares
The Xunta de Alfonso Rueda usually indicates that in Galicia there are 15,000 public squares in residences. In reality, this figure includes concerted figures, that is to say financed with public money in private companies dedicated to geriatrics. Or those that belong to the State but are managed by private entities, such as those offered by the Amancio Ortega Foundation to the Galician government. Public centers have more than 5,000 places, for a total of 22,865 available. To comply with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), five places per 100 inhabitants over 65 years old, 14,000 new places will be needed in the community.
