Supporting our senior citizens

By Massimo Vella

A society that values senior citizens reaps rewards across generations. The public service offers a number of services to the elderly, aimed to address daily challenges they face, providing them with the required support so that they remain valued and included in our community by helping them stay in charge of their own lives for as long as possible. 

To this end, the collaboration of servizz.gov and Active Ageing and Community Care (AACC) plays a pivotal role. 

Our mission is to continue enhancing this joint effort to ensure client-centred policies and support services, to the benefit of our elderly. 

In a sustained effort to transform Malta into an age-friendly nation, the collaboration between servizz.gov and AACC upholds the values of intergenerational equity and empowerment. Operating as a one-stop-shop, servizz.gov does not only address Active Ageing queries but also assists with services related to social security, tax, education, Jobsplus, and others. 

This means that if a senior citizen requires assistance on pension queries as well as on another service, servizz.gov is able to offer both services. Thus, servizz.gov facilitates several services under one roof so that the client does not need to contact different government departments.

The services offered vary according to one’s needs. Eligible senior citizens can benefit from the use of Active Ageing Centres, Night Shelters and Home Admissions. 

But there’s a whole network of services that offer care at home so that the elderly may continue living in the community, such as domiciliary caring, domiciliary nursing, community geriatrician, podiatry, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services, and even the service of meals on wheels delivered to one’s door. 

Schemes such as Home Help may assist the elderly in domestic work and the buying of daily needs, while others provide free maintenance services where the client only pays for the material required. Those interested should contact us to ascertain their eligibility. 

The assistance we offer at servizz.gov is found across several channels. One can use Freephone 153, email at [email protected], the servizz.gov website at servizz.gov.mt, the Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as the 24 hubs spread in several localities around Malta. 

The use of assistance channels offered through servizz.gov has increased in popularity amongst our clients. 

Notably, from the beginning of 2022, a total of 7,163 cases were tackled and recorded on Freephone 153 alone. The top requested services varied from assistance with applications, Home Help, Carer at Home, to Home admission. Face-to-face assistance remained popular, with 966 cases assisted in-person through the servizz.gov hubs, with the regional centres with the most registered AACC queries being servizz.gov Paola (Local Council), servizz.gov Qormi and servizz.gov Zejtun. In the same period, servizz.gov assisted 84 cases through its email channel, primarily with applications, Home Help, and continence services.

Despite the natural inclination of older adults towards a face-to-face service such as that experienced in our regional hubs, we are conscious that digital access has become mainstream and thus we need to ensure that everyone is included to avoid social isolation among senior citizens as particularly evidenced during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Public Service has embarked on an ambitious modernising process, making use of more digital tools to deliver greater results. We firmly believe that services are user-centred and designed across our diverse clients’ needs through a cohort design. 

A good user experience requires process optimisation, uniformity and minimum client touchpoints. 

In this respect, the Public Administration has embarked upon two initiatives to adopt and promote inclusive Service Design Standards through the servizz.gov’s Service Design Hub and in parallel to foster a Digitally Enabled and Confident Nation. 

This is a clear sign to show our commitment in making Government’s services as inclusive and accessible as possible by accommodating a wide range of individual preferences and abilities, universal design principles and full stakeholder participation including the clients themselves.

Indeed, in-person customer service may be the preferred option for older adults, but at the same time bridging the digital divide should no longer be seen as a threat but rather an opportunity to improve the lives of such cohort in our society.

Massimo Vella is Chief Executive Officer of servizz.gov