Surprise visits to elderly homes leaves Caruana ‘appalled’ at levels of care

Unannounced visits to homes for the elderly by the parliamentary secretary for the elderly, Justyne Caruana, has led to reprimands against several private institutions.

Sources said that following her unannounced visits, Caruana made it known to her secretariat that she plans to stamp out slackness and apathy she witnessed in both government and privately-run homes for the elderly.

Only last month the junior minister’s visit to an elderly people’s home in Msida led to the person responsible for the running of the home to be reprimanded for the poor state of the institution. 

The official later reported sick and was said to have not shown up for work.

A ministerial source told MaltaToday that a replacement for the person would be found shortly.

“The minister was shocked by what she saw – the hygiene, the way the old people were being cared for and the quality of the food provided,” MaltaToday was told.

In her visit to Msida, Caruana entered the premises without advance notice and specifically looked out for reports on hygiene. An aide said that the minister was “appalled by what she saw”.

Caruana has since her appointment chosen to follow up a plethora of complaints by the families of the elderly residents. They vary from physical abuse, theft of personal items and poor food and hygiene.

But many of these accusations have still to be confirmed, especially the extent of neglect in particular homes.

A Caruana aide was quick to point out that generalisations were wrong. “The minister also visited the Mtarfa home and what she saw there was exemplary,” the aide said.

The elderly are catered for by a blend of government homes with different private contractors for cleaning, cooking and care, or a combination of government and private contractors for medical and private care.

Complicating matters are the fact that private homes for the elderly which until last July could not be officially monitored, were not accountable to any central monitoring authority.

Several government-owned homes have also been contracted to private operators for extremely long periods. In two cases, two government homes were contracted to Nazzareno Vassallo’s Caremalta company, on ten and twenty-year contracts.

The government has opened a series of public consultation meetings on standards for residential homes for the elderly. Despite years of talk on national standards, it is only now that a public consultation process was launched.

The national minimum standards for care of the elderly in residential homes will be based on putting the elderly at the centre of care, respecting their dignity, freedom, security and mental and physical well-being, as well as their right to privacy.

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