Health finalizes a new regulatory framework for residences

The lack of health professionals is a deficit that not only weighs on the health system; Nursing homes have also been affected by a problem that does not seem to have an easy solution in the short term. In the new regulatory framework that the Government is preparing to regulate senior centers, greater flexibility is expected in hiring.

At the end of the Government Council, the Minister of Health, María Martín, explained some details of the new decree prepared by her department. «To determine the staff in the residences, a minimum ratio of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists will be established; and a global ratio at the second level of care,” she noted. The lack of professionals “will entail the obligation of the center to replace its deficit with an equivalent number of hours from another or other professionals from the other categories of health care or with double the hours from the first level direct care group,” he said. exemplified. When the new decree comes into force, for which a public consultation period now opens, the controversial exemption from the penalties that must be imposed on residences that do not comply with the ratios will end.

María Martín has pointed out that this decree, which is expected to be approved after the summer, will replace the one currently in force, which dates back to 1998. The counselor has indicated that the new regulations are based on a resolution of the Secretary of State for Social Rights approved in 2022. on the common criteria for accreditation and quality of the centers and services of the System for Autonomy and Dependency Care. “This will be the first time that regulatory support is given to the ‘Social cares, Health cures’ model that we have begun to implement in our community with the aim of increasing the quality of the long-term care that we offer to the elderly.” «We cannot continue offering the same solutions as in 1998 when society is increasingly older; When people need long-term care, neither the Health nor the Social Services system alone can provide an adequate response,” she stressed.

One of the main points of the new model is the creation of Special Health Care Units, dependent on Primary Care, which will travel to residences “to reinforce the monitoring of users’ health.” Likewise, the decree will include “interoperability” between the public health system and the social services system, so that it includes measures – “some already implemented” – such as “access to electronic medical records in all residences, management of complementary tests, the sending and receiving of clinical analyzes or access to the registry of advance directives of the Government of La Rioja.