The deputy of the common returns to embarrass the Canary Islands with dependency: the waiting list is already 1,350 days

The new report for 2021 concludes that in the archipelago "the fundamental rights of dependent people are violated." 9 people die every day waiting for the benefit

EFE

June 2 2022 (17:42 WEST)
Updated in June 3 2022 (12:58 WEST)
Image of a person with dependency in the Canary Islands
Image of a person with dependency in the Canary Islands

The Deputy of the Common has come to the conclusion that "in the Canary Islands the fundamental rights of dependent people are violated", after preparing a special report on dependency, delivered this Thursday in the regional Parliament. 

With a per capita expenditure less than half of the Spanish average, waiting lists of 45 months, nine daily deaths of affected people who have not received benefits and a deficit of 8,500 residential places, the situation is "serious", according to this institution.

In fact, the report reflects that it has even worsened compared to the previous year. According to the latest report issued by the deputy of the common, corresponding to 2020, the waiting time was 927 days, but now it places it at 1,350.

The study has been delivered to the president of Parliament, Gustavo Matos, by the deputy of the Común, Rafael Yanes. Subsequently, the first deputy of the institution, Felipe Afonso El Jaber, has presented some of the conclusions of the report, which is not binding, but to which the Parliament of the Canary Islands will have to respond in the coming weeks.

"Increasing the budget for dependency is one of the most obvious conclusions, but also improving the organization, facilitating collaboration between administrations and promoting closer and more humane socio-health residences," insists the deputy.
 

Canary Islands needs 8,504 more residential places

To reach the 5 residential places per 100 people over 65 years of age that the World Health Organization establishes as recommended, the Canary Islands would need to create 8,504 new ones.

"That is more than double the places that are planned as a maximum in the second socio-health infrastructure plan," El Jaber mentioned as a reflection of the archipelago's distance when it comes to fulfilling the rights of dependents.

The deputy of the Diputación del Común emphasized, beyond the data, the harshness of the lives of many dependents, their families and caregivers in a context of deteriorated social networks and little public attention, which in many cases leads to situations of poverty.

Only for the Canary Islands to reach the national average, it would have to serve 30,000 more dependents, which is more than double the number it currently serves, he stressed.

"This situation is not unrelated to the fact that in the Canary Islands public spending on dependency per inhabitant is less than half of that of Spain as a whole", said Felipe Afonso El Jaber before detailing that residential places are 4.31 per 100 people over 65 years of age in Spain, less than the 5 recommended by the WHO, while in the Canary Islands they are 2.7.

 

Islanders submit fewer applications because they do not trust the system

There are also fewer Canarians who submit applications for help, since there would have to be 28,000 more applicants to be at the national average, something that is not explained by the lower rate of aging population, which reaches 93% of the whole of Spain.

"The most reasonable conclusion is that applications are not submitted because people have little confidence in the system," people ask themselves "why am I going to ask for it if it never arrives," but there may also be ignorance of the aid and procedures or inability to process it, said El Jaber.

In the Canary Islands, the administrative services for dependency are "collapsed" and not only are the legal processing deadlines not met, but they are multiplied by up to 7.5 times, so that applications submitted four years earlier are being processed.

The maximum legal term that the administration has to resolve an application for dependency assistance is 180 days from its registration, and there are communities such as Castilla y León that comply with it comfortably, so that "it is possible." In the Canary Islands it takes 943 days.

That is 31 months of waiting compared to the 6 legal months, according to data from the Observatory of Dependency, but those provided by the General Directorate of Dependency and Disability of the Government of the Canary Islands are even worse and were at the end of 2021 at 1,350 days, 45 months.

 

It takes "fifteen times longer" to review the degree of dependency

The reviews of the degree of dependency, which those affected request because by the time their benefit arrives (the Individual Care Program or PIA) their personal situation has already deteriorated, also have delays. The legal term is three months, but the Canarian administration takes "fifteen times longer, 45 months," said the Deputy of the Common.

Currently, in the Canary Islands there are 6,900 dependents on the waiting list asking for a review of their case. And if, when the time comes, their case is reviewed and the review of the degree is denied, the affected person can file an appeal, but the response arrives 89 months later. That is seven years of waiting, so at the end of 2021 the claims of 2014 were being resolved, explained the deputy of the Diputación del Común.

Precisely in 2021 there was a national shock plan to get people out of the "limbo" of dependency that allowed to reduce the waiting list to receive benefits by 16.7% in Spain as a whole. In the case of the Canary Islands, it was not reduced, but increased by 23.1%.

The objective of that plan was to incorporate 5,000 dependents to be cared for in the archipelago, and finally 1,617 were reached.

Finally, the deputy pointed out that "27% of the complaints received by the institution have to do with dependency or disability," and acknowledged that "practically none of these data is unknown," but considered it important to gather them in a report made to help improve the lives of dependents, families and caregivers with their 19 groups of proposals.

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