Elderly people and their relatives, who want to lodge a complaint about any home for the elderly can now do so by dialing 8007 2367.

The new helpline will be manned by staff within the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Elderly that will also be handling complaints made through the e-mail address elderlyhomes-complaints.mfss@gov.mt.

The helpline and the e-mail were launched this morning by Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana as part of the ongoing consultation process into the drawing up of minimum standards for elderly homes.

Dr Caruana said she had visited various homes over the past weeks and most complaints centred around the way carers handled and treated residents in homes as well as the quality of the food.

Dr Caruana also announced that, today, in the Government Gazette, the government would be launching a call for expression of interest for the setting up of small residential homes for disabled people in the community.

The calls were very open ended and government was looking at various possibilities to offer these services, she said.