Articles and features appearing in the media in recent months show that the public is becoming engaged with the ongoing work on ageing welfare by the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing.

This is very important because we need to raise awareness about the adversities and challengies older persons face on a daily basis.

The Secretariat has been working on a variety of fronts to ensure a quality of life for older people in the community. We are striving hard so that Telecare Plus will not remain the government’s only flagship so far as assistive technology services are concerned.

To this effect, the Parliamentary Secretariat will be shortly holding a seminar on the assistive technologies available. Improving the range of these technologies will enable us to reach higher rates of productivity among persons aged 50-plus who at present tend to include the majority of informal carers.

Recently it was pointed out that a considerable number of St Vincent de Paul residents are semi-independent.

Upon entering office, I found much higher percentages of independent and semi-independent residents in government care homes as a result of an unsuitable application procedure adopted by the previous Nationalist administration.

For many years, a requirement to be granted entry to a public home was that the applicant was independent, a policy that made long-term beds inaccessible to vulnerable persons who really needed such a service.

Active ageing should encompass all older people, even those who are frail and dependent

At the moment, all applicants for entry in public care homes are screened by a multidisciplinary team, with priority being given to applicants who score low in physical and emotional well-being.

This government was not content to leave St Vincent de Paul residence as found, and this month began an overall branding exercise that will go a long way to eliminating the ‘negative first impression’ the public gets of the residence.

Extensive refurbishment works and training programmes are under way, and there are even plans to set up a boċċi club on the request of some residents.

Refurbishment works at St Joseph ward are ready and works in wards St Francis 3 and 4 are progressing as planned.

Mepa applications for the upgrade of Rużar Briffa were submitted and another ward has been identified for a complete upgrade.

However, homes are not the only item on the Parliamentary Secretariat’s agenda. The Department of Elderly and Community Care is working tirelessly to improve the range of community services.

This government inherited a situation where the waiting lists for community services were never-ending, sometimes even higher than the actual number of service recipients, such as in the case of Meals-on-Wheels, and where the quality of care being provided was lower than the benchmark older persons deserve.

Following much hard work, I am pleased to note that in recent months there was much improvement in the way these community services are organised and delivered, as can be witnessed by the decrease in the number of complaints received by customer care officers.

Respite services are now offered on a national basis. In October, the government invested in a public-Church partnership which saw a threefold increase in respite capacity, and we are now offering 21 beds for respite.

Last week we launched the service in Gozo with two beds in a private home, Villa San Lawrenz. In Gozo we also launched the first private-public partnership for long-term care. In the coming weeks a night shelter will be opened and a day care dementia centre will follow.

Two other achievements by the Secretariat were acquirement of funds from the European Social Fund to train all nurses working with older people in dementia care, as well as local funds that will enable the presence of outreach social workers on a nationwide scale.

This shows that the provision of institutional services is only part of the government policy of ageing welfare.

The Parliamentary Secretariat’s vision for active ageing is that it should be a largely preventive concept, involving all age groups in the process of ageing actively across the life course.

Active ageing should encompass all older people, even those who are frail and dependent, since a focus on the ‘young-old’ has the potential to marginalise elders who are either housebound or reside in care homes.

This is why we have launched the eAnzjan project, through which St Vincent de Paul residents will be taught how to use tablet computers so they can enjoy reading e-books, watch their favourite movies, and keep in contact with relatives over Skype.

Together with MCA we also launched the Roadshow programme to promote digital literacy in communities. This will shortly be also available in Gozo.

I firmly believe that the concept of active ageing includes both rights and obligations. In other words, rights to social protection, lifelong learning and training should be accompanied by obligations to take advantage of the available services organised by the government and civil society.

By adopting this vision, coupled with the government’s energy for the implementation of ageing welfare services, we can surely make Malta and Gozo one of the best places to grow old in.

Justyne Caruana is Parliamentary Secretary for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing.