The Foundation for Active Ageing Malta wishes to express appreciation for the editorial ‘Minimum standards for care homes’ (May 28). Now that the parliamentary secretary has stated she is in the process of drawing up such standards, the editorial was both timely and critically important for the welfare of our older citizens living in residential homes.

The editor rightly draws attention to the fact that most homes do not employ sufficient staff both in terms of numbers as well as skills to provide the basic care which the residents require.

We hope this newspaper will continue to write in a similar vein to make the public aware of other substandard circumstances the elderly in care homes continue to endure: poor management, unpalatable food, rigid meal times, no social activities, unhealthy surroundings, nappy cladding that promotes incontinence, pokey living quarters, etc., to mention but a few of the hardships residents face daily. The national minimum standards as drawn up by our foundation addresses all issues with measurable outcomes.

The slightest lowering of any of these minimum standards will simply perpetuate the indignity and unhappiness many old people in care homes suffer.

Close loving family and friends also share their pain.

As long as younger generations think in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’ – as if old people were aliens – they will continue to lack empathy and show little concern for the hardships many endure.

It is our task, together with the media, to eliminate the ‘us and them’ mindset and instead foster empathy for our more vulnerable senior citizens. Ultimately, we are all either going to die young or grow old.

We therefore continue to maintain that any lowering of the national minimum standards will damage the reputation of the Maltese people as a caring Christian community. Any compromise will prioritise the interests of profit-seeking stakeholders above those of the more vulnerable elderly.

Our senior citizens and their families deserve no less.