Marci Acuña assures in her appearance that "the deficiencies" of Amavir "have been corrected"

The Minister of Social Welfare and Inclusion of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Marci Acuña, appeared this Thursday in a plenary session to report on the actions carried out by the Corporation at the Amavir Tías residence and the measures promoted since 2023 to correct the deficiencies detected in the socio-sanitary center. 

During his speech, the minister defended that the current government group "inherited a deficient residence, marked by a lack of supervision and an assistance contract that had become outdated with respect to the real profile of the center's users".

Acuña emphasized that "the PSOE eliminated the Technical Unit for the Supervision of socio-sanitary places in 2020, leaving the follow-up of the service without effective control for four years". “When this government group recovers the unit and resumes supervision of the residence's operation, deficiencies that had gone unaddressed for years appear,” he noted.

In this regard, he explained that the technical reports "reflected problems related to cleaning, maintenance, internal organization, and a lack of sufficient staff to attend to a user profile with a much higher level of dependency than originally foreseen in the contract".

“The underlying problem is that the contract no longer had the necessary strength to provide the professionals that the center currently requires,” stated the minister, who recalled that "the majority of residents today present medium-high care needs".

Recovery of supervision and modification of the care model

Marci Acuña highlighted that one of the first decisions adopted by the current government group was to "recover and strengthen the Technical Supervision Unit, doubling staff and intensifying unannounced inspections and visits to socio-sanitary centers".

Likewise, he explained that the Cabildo resumed the contractual modification file to adapt the service to the real profile of the residence's users, incorporating a medium-high requirement model that allows for improved care and adequate sizing of professional resources.

The counselor also recalled that it was the Corporation itself that requested the Government of the Canary Islands to inspect the center and that it opened an informative file to clarify the incidents detected and demand corrective measures from the contracting company. "The minutes and reports exist because this Cabildo decided to supervise again. The irresponsible thing would have been to look the other way," he added. 

The file concludes that the measures applied "have corrected the deficiencies"

During the appearance, Acuña reported that the investigating body of the informative file concludes that the corrective measures applied "have allowed the restoration of the residence's operation with adequate guarantees of attention and care."

Among the actions carried out since 2023, according to the counselor, are the reinforcement of staff, specific cleaning and maintenance plans, reorganization of services, increase in inspections, meetings with families and workers, and socio-health training programs. 

The counselor insisted that the residence "deserves all administrations and agents involved to join forces to build the best possible care system," acknowledging that "there have been complex moments that needed to be corrected." 

"We must listen to the complaints, but also to the work of many professionals and the gratitude of families. Our obligation is to continue improving the service and guarantee the best possible care for our elders," he concluded.