Last Monday, the Generalitat carried out an inspection at the Orihuela Costa nursing home and has reached a conclusion: it desperately needs more staff.
The privately managed home, with up to 120 elderly residents, has been absorbed in a conflict after the regional association of residences ‘Recova’ denounced unhealthy conditions in the centre. The management company attributes the accusations to a conflict between workers.
The inspection’s conclusions, however, are provisional. The Department’s Inspectors are currently drafting the final details of their report prior to sending it to the management company. That, however, has not prevented the regional secretary of the Socio-Health System, Emilio Argüeso, from sharing some details about the inspection.
A spokesperson for the Department of Social Services said that all speed had been applied in dealing with the issue. “The matter was brought to my attention on Friday. I set up the inspection over the weekend and on Monday we were there. We found that many of the complaints were justified. There were episodes of rat bites on a patient, but the company has not tried to hide the fact because it was recorded in the incident books,” she said.
For the Regional secretary, Argüeso, the main problem in the centre lies with the lack of personnel. “There is a problem with a lack of staff at all sites, not just Villamartin, and the reality is that, due to collective agreements in this type of work, staff are paid much less than what the market requires, so there are not the numbers of people who want to work in these care homes,” he said.
