The auditor general’s report on residential long term care private public partnerships covered to the end of 2013 and improvements had already been since carried out, the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Care of the Elderly said today.

In its report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, the NAO said more favourable terms should be sought in spite of a prevailing disequilibrium between demand and supply.

The secretariat said it embarked on an evaluation process of all pending contracts to guarantee uniformity.

This exercise was carried out in the context of national minimum standards, which were finalised and about which a bill was being prepared.

This was intended to create an enforcement mechanism that would be substituting the current audit team, set up by the government to monitor service quality.

It was a fact that there was a demand for beds that had been accumulating for several years. So this government worked on a national strategy divided into short, medium and long term measures aimed to address the problem, the secretariat said.

It said it immediately started to buy beds from the private sector and the provision started to increase immediately.

Over a number of years, more work was to be carried out on government homes, particularly St Vincent de Paul, with the aim of increasing beds.

A rationalisation exercise was also being carried out of the waiting list of cases evaluated by a multidisciplinary team composed of geriatric experts.

Cases categorised as urgent or high priority were being tackled in a short time.

This was also being done through other community services which were also being strengthened.