The 23 residents at Casa Francesco home for the elderly were all admitted to other homes after the government ended the contract over “poor service”, yet the incident highlighted the lack of national standards in residential homes.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly Justyne Caruana terminated the public-private partnership with Casa Francesco less than a month after it was signed because the service given by the home fell short of expectations.
Private residential homes entering into a service agreement with the government have to meet a set of criteria. Yet this is not enough to ensure the elderly get the appropriate care, since there are no national minimum standards the homes have to meet.
This was confirmed by the Foundation for Active Ageing (FXAM), which stressed that national minimum standards were urgently needed: “In the absence of such standards, if shortcomings exist in one home they inevitably exist in other residential homes for the elderly to a greater or lesser extent.”
Casa Francesco remains open despite the government’s assessment of low standards. The only thing that has changed is that the government no longer takes up a set number of beds.
The shortage of homes means families desperate to find a place for their parents accept poor service without complaint. And the lack of national minimum standards means there are no grounds to force any residential home to improve service quality.
The foundation is involved in the drafting of national standards for residential homes for the elderly, which consists of 38 measures to ensure patient dignity and care.
Yet, following a public consultation period which ended in September, nothing has changed.
These measures are the minimum you would expect for the dignity and care of your parents
“These 38 measures are the minimum you would expect your parents to have for their dignity and care,” said David Mamo, a geriatric psychiatrist from the foundation.
Prof. Mamo said as things stand, the market was not favourable to the client but the supplier. “The shortage of facilities means families are grateful for what they can get. Yet, the lack of minimum standards means the elderly may not necessarily be receiving the appropriate level of care they need and deserve.”
When Times of Malta asked the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Elderly when these standards would be introduced, a spokes-man said “they would be published in the coming weeks”.
However, it was also made clear that what would be implemented would be markedly different from the draft prepared by experts.
The foundation countered that the draft standards were the “absolute minimum” established in other developed countries.
Anything less would not allow older individuals to live in basic comfort and retain their dignity.
The minimum standards drafted were achievable, given a suitable time frame for implementation – up to 10 years in the case of structural requirements, FXAM said.
FXAM also pointed out that the government is a major service provider.
The majority of beds in residential homes are provided by the State, either through public residential homes or service agreements with the private sector.
In this context, the foundation stressed the importance of having a regulator completely independent of government and legally empowered to enforce standards to maintain personal care at the appropriate standard that seniors rightly deserve.