New agreement to improve capacity of Dar il-Kaptan respite home

The government has signed a three-year agreement with Dar il-Kaptan, aimed at extending the Mtarfa respite home’s capacity.

The public social partnership will see the government provide 17 new beds for residents at the home, as well as a daycare respite programme at the home for 15 disabled people per day.

Parliamentary secretary for the disabled Justyne Caruana said that this deal will also signal the introduction of new residential standards for disabled people that will soon be applicable for all state-owned, Church-owned and private residential services.

Caruana said that the new standards will ensure a better standard of living for disabled people at residential homes, thereby putting their parents’ minds at rest.

She also said that work has already begun on four of the 10 new community residences for disabled people that that the government had promised to open. The first of these residences will open in Siggiewi in a few weeks’ time, while the second one will open in Gozo by the end of the year.