Santander (EFE).- The Government of Cantabria will inject almost nine million euros into its dependency system to increase the ratios in the centers between users and professionals and improve care, which is expected to imply the need for up to five thousand hiring in the sector.
This injection of funds derives from the modifications introduced in the orders that regulate the requirements of the dependency care centers in Cantabria and the prices that the Government pays for the maintenance of public squares.
The Minister of Employment and Social Policies, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, has presented these changes at a press conference in which she has also taken stock of the legislature in terms of dependency with the “objectives achieved” and has thanked the social agents and the entities their joint work that has been “fruitful” for the sector in Cantabria.
“Cantabria can be proud of its system of autonomy and care for dependency”, claimed Gómez de Diego, who, accompanied by his entire team, stressed that the region is always “well above the national average”, without waiting lists, except in the demand for places in residences for the elderly, centered in the urban area of Santander, which are resolved within the period established by law, within three months, he highlighted.
Cover future demand
In fact, as explained by the Director General of Social Policies, Julio Soto, the modifications introduced in both orders respond to a study carried out on the future needs of the unit in Cantabria, which he estimates will thus be covered.
One of the objectives, added Soto, is to increase the ratio of indirect care, which is the one that is carried out in kitchens or cleaning, tasks that in some cases are carried out by assistants, so that these professionals focus on the care of dependents.
In addition, they want to promote an improvement in working conditions, with the increase in public prices that will represent a disbursement by the Government of Cantabria of 8.8 million euros.
In a sector that employs 6,000 people in Cantabria, most of them women, the forecast that the CEO has pointed out is that to increase these ratios, “between 400 and 500” more workers will be necessary in the future.
In addition, looking to the future, he recalled that in Cantabria ten residences for the elderly are under construction or with advanced projects, with which “the demand would be covered”, he has abounded, while he has highlighted that there are some 340 vacancies in the centers during the day, with a demand that has not increased as a result of the covid pandemic, with which its expected increase has not been met.
legislature balance
So far, in this legislature, the counselor has highlighted the increase in more than 680 public places in the different dependency care services, 9.2 percent, to slightly exceed 8,000, which represents 76.40 percent, of the total of those that exist in Cantabria (10,553).
And he has remarked that there has been an increase in public prices, which in the case of nursing homes, as an example, has reached 12.48 percent in four years, with an increase in the dependency system budget of 33 .5 million euros in four years, almost 30 percent more, with an average increase of 5 percent per year.
He also recalled that the regional Executive allocated aid of 1.6 million euros to the entities that provide the services due to the increase in costs due to the war in Ukraine.
“In Cantabria there is no emergency situation that is not covered, there is no waiting list to receive financial benefits, neither for telecare nor for day care centers. And the evolution of the budget shows this commitment to improving the system”, summed up Eugenia Gómez de Diego.