The first early care plan falls short: 42 million to lower waiting lists

Early attention comes into play, a set of therapies and interventions that the minor should receive to lessen the symptoms and provide them with maximum autonomy. That is, the child has access to this type of attention may mean the difference between or not becoming more autonomous and less dependent.

However, almost half of the children who need these early treatments do not have them. It is estimated, according to data, the Spanish Federation of Associations of Early Care Professionals (GAT) that 10% of the child population is susceptible to this type of therapies, while only 5.8% would be receiving it. Specifically, this Federation points out that around 140,000 children between 0 and 6 years with disabilities or significant barriers in their development never get a place in an early care center.

Yesterday the Government and the Autonomous Communities promised for the first time to reverse this situation. The Ministry of Health and Social Rights signed with the autonomies yesterday the first state agreement aimed at improving early care in Spain. This is a document that sets a maximum period 45 days to begin receiving attention since a child candidate to receive therapy is detected, in addition to generating more places for minors. The objective is to greatly reduce the waiting lists, that in some communities such as Andalusia or Madrid reach 117 days and 200 respectively; far exceeding the maximum reference period that marks the European child guarantee and the EU council.

“We receive the commitment to joy, because this type of attention can be crucial for all those children who have a disorder in their development,” says Iñigo Bermejo, in front of Gat. Although the population tends to perceive early attention as aimed at a very small group of minors, it serves to diagnose not only children with cerebral palsy but also that with language problems or even that they are at risk of social exclusion.

Differences between communities

In any case, the differences between autonomous communities are significant. In autonomies such as the Valencian Community, the Community of Madrid, Galicia, the Canary Islands and Aragon attended only to approximately 4%. On the contrary, in regions such as Andalusia, Catalonia or Navarra, 10%is touched. Bermejo indicates that the role of schools is essential throughout the process, since it is the scenario in which it is detected, in a majority way, that there may be some problem in cognitive development.

Likewise, the agreement provides that all communities have an early care network for before 2030. The system must interconnect all the departments that are part of the early care process, as well as order and regulate the participation of the equipment, the teaching staff, the teaching staff, the teachers, the teachers, the teachers, the teachers Social services professionals, etc. The network “must have a template of stable, sufficient and quality jobs”, as well as facilitate regulation that establishes coordination and sharing mechanisms of documents and medical records.

Declaration of intentions

Although the Plan has been approved by a majority in the Interterritorial Council, Community of Madrid, Aragon, La Rioja and Cantabria voted against, crossing out the “fudge” plan, and of falling short – 42 million euros will be allocated to distribute equitably according to population – to cover the alarming lack of professionals.

«There are no guarantees in the deadlines of 45 days. It is a declaration of ideological intentions without basis or technical references on how to improve in this area, ”said Ana Dávila, Minister of Family, Youth and Social Affairs of the Community of Madrid, who has promised that he will create this year in the region new places in Early care, reaching 7,000 with an investment of 40 million, practically the same that the Government wants to allocate for all autonomous communities.

“Insufficient”

“Both the provision of the Community of Madrid and the state agreement is insufficient, pathetic,” the director of an early care center of the capital, which prefers to remain anonymous. In his opinion, the aid, despite being well received, do not go to the root of the problem.

“The difficulty is the rotation, places are not released at the same rate that new ones are demanded,” he laments, indicating 200 or 300 more places does not change when there are children who can spend a year in primary care or more than five.

And every year the figure increases. “There are also families who have offered a place and have rejected it for not being able The child turns 6 and stops receiving treatment. «Do your disorders disappear? They are blind if they think it works like this ».