The Region of Murcia increased the dependency care waiting list for the second consecutive year in 2022, currently having 6,525 dependent people waiting to receive a benefit in 2022, 30% more than in the previous year, when the figure was 5,035 people, according to the XXIII Opinion of the State Observatory of the Dependency, prepared by the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services.
The waiting list has increased despite being a priority objective of the Shock Plan for the Improvement of the Dependency System, which has led to an increase in the financing of communities of more than 1,800 million in the years 2021 and 2022. In addition , in 2023 the financing will be increased by another 1,800 million.
In this sense, the Observatory estimates that, according to the document of the Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, the effects of the increase in the minimum level and the recovery of the agreed level represent for the Community of Murcia the additional amount of 49.8 million euros in the years 2021 and 2022.
Regarding the basic objectives contained in the Emergency Plan, the Region of Murcia has increased by 715 dependent people attended (1.93%), very far from the national average of 7.47%. In addition, the Community has increased the waiting list by 1,490 people (+29.59%) despite the extraordinary funding received from the Shock Plan.
“The 841 new jobs remain at 87 of the job creation forecasts that would have corresponded to them due to the additional financing of the Shock Plan in 2022 of 32 million,” according to the Observatory.
In this regard, the Observatory has revealed that the Region of Murcia received 1,235 new applications for dependents last year, 2.28% more than in the previous year. Although its increase is far from the national average of 4.72%.
In this sense, the Region closed the year growing by 1,163 services. Home Help (+1,035), telecare (+461) and prevention (+292) increased strongly; while the economic benefits linked to the service (PEVS) (-306) and the Economic Benefit for Care in the Family Environment (Pecef) (-322) fell. Despite the change in trend, Pecefs continue to represent 51.5% of benefits.
The direct costs of the System for Autonomy and Dependency Care (SAAD) estimated for the management of benefits and services during the year 2022 amounted to a total of 228 million euros, of which 59.9% went to account of the Community, 21.8% of the State and 18.3% of the user.
The SAAD generates more than 5,400 direct jobs in Murcia, 29 per million public spending, a figure far removed from the 40.9 generated on average in the State as a whole, according to this report.
The Observatory highlights that, between December 2021 and November 2022, 5,940 people with dependency requests died in the Region of Murcia. In the same period, 1,423 people on the waiting list died in the Region of Murcia without being able to receive care, this is almost 4 people a day.
National data
A total of 353,965 people are waiting to receive care at the agency, 8,799 less than in 2021, according to the Opinion, which warns that, at this rate, “it would take 35 years to ensure that there is no person waiting for any procedure ». In addition, more than 45,000 dependent people died on the waiting list between December 2021 and November 2022.
Specifically, there are 131,810 people waiting to be assessed, 7,214 more than the 124,596 the previous year, and 177,423 with the recognized right but waiting to receive care, 15,923 fewer people than the previous year. To these are added 22,829 people with a PIA resolution and who do not receive benefits or services and 21,903 that the CCAAs have not registered and are pending assessment.
«The budget increase of the Government of Spain has not been sufficient to cover the objectives of the shock plan: neither the reduction of the waiting list nor the increase in intensities. This is tremendously worrying,” said the president of the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services, José Manuel Ramírez, this Friday, at a press conference.
According to the document, 44.6% of neglected people (80,862) are dependents with Grade III or II, that is, they have extensive and continuous support needs.
Although by regulation, the maximum period to resolve a file is six months (180 days), currently, it takes 344 days on average, and five communities exceed 12 months (Canary Islands, Andalusia, Murcia, Extremadura and Galicia).
In any case, the report also highlights that there are 91,295 more people attended than at the beginning of 2022. In this sense, the authors have pointed out that after the “disastrous” years of the pandemic, “the crash plan confirms a change in trend ».
By province, the Communities with the greatest ‘dependency limbo’, that is, with the most people waiting to receive benefits, are: Catalonia (27.1%), La Rioja (18.9%) and the Basque Country (17.5%). %); and those that least, Castilla y León (0.18%), Castilla-La Mancha (3.71%) and Aragón (4%).
Services increasingly ‘low cost’
On the other hand, the authors of the study value that the benefits and services are each year “more ‘low cost’ and insufficient” for the needs of people in a situation of dependency. Thus, for example, they indicate that the economic benefits for family care have an average monthly amount of 234.96 euros; and the related benefit to pay for a residential care place ranges from 445.5 euros per month (Grade II) to 550.8 euros per month (Grade III).
Of the direct public spending in dependency in 2022, the report specifies that the General State Administration has increased financing by 1,842 million euros, reaching 33.9%, while the Autonomous Communities have reduced their contribution and decreased their financing percentage to 66.1%.
The authors of the study highlight that the cumulative cut of the dependent General State Administration, which was put to an end by the Shock Plan, has been 6,321 million euros.
In this sense, they emphasize that the Government of Spain “complies” with the budget increase of the Shock Plan for the Dependency but “the bureaucracy and lack of expertise of some regional governments do not allow the objective of reducing the waiting list, increasing benefits and services and not even execute the budget increase.
Specifically, they denounce that, in the first year of the shock plan, ten autonomous community governments “made cash” with the budget increase: Aragón, Canarias, Castilla y León, Castilla La Mancha, Extremadura, Galicia, Region of Murcia, Community Foral de Navarra, Basque Country and La Rioja.
In this way, the authors of the report indicate that “only” there are 15,923 fewer people on the waiting list who, added to the 38,807 in 2021, do not reach the 60,000 that they set as a goal for the first year, and warn that, at the rate of last year it would take eleven years to achieve full attention.
The regional government blames the central
For their part, from the regional government they pointed directly to the central executive as responsible for the waiting list for dependency aid to continue to grow in the Community. From the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Equality they pointed out that in the last year “more than 196 million euros were allocated to cover the Dependency law, while the contribution of the Government of Spain barely exceeded 60 million, despite being a care and help service where the contribution of the Central Government should be equal to that of the Communities due to the principle of financial solidarity”.
The Minister of Social Policy, Families and Equality, Conchita Ruiz Caballero, responded to the report of the State Observatory of the Dependency published this Friday, pointing out that once again “the coalition government harms the Region of Murcia with a clear lack of solidarity and a manifesto mistreatment of citizens.
Among the measures and advances made by the Ministry of Social Policy is the incorporation of twelve new professionals to the General Directorate of Pensions “which will reduce processing times and the waiting list of people who have requested an assessment of the degree of dependency,” he highlighted. .
Ruiz indicated that since 2020 the resolutions of files of those people who request it and obtain the resolution, either by provision or by dependency service, have doubled. In addition, he assured that “the forecast is to increase the number of assessments carried out each year, exceeding 5,000 in 2023 and continue to increase it in coming years.”
The counselor stressed that “the socialist government does not comply in solidarity with those Murcians who need it most, and simply contributes the minimum that the Dependency Law establishes in its article 32. If it complied responsibly and its contribution was balanced and similar to the one carried out by the regional government, we could have created in the Region of Murcia 2,200 new places in residences for the elderly, 1,200 places in day centers, 2,600 places in residences and 1,500 in day centers for people with disabilities, in addition to 880 Sepap. In total 8,830 places for our elderly and elderly dependents and the waiting list would end.
However, and as Ruiz Caballero announced, “despite not having this state funding, the regional government continues to work for the citizens and in 2023 it will reach 500 places between residences and day centers with its own resources.”
Ten communities “made cash” at the expense of the shock plan
The Region is among the ten autonomies that “made cash” with the budget increase that the Government allocated to finance the dependency system in the first year of the shock plan. The others are Aragon, the Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Galicia, Navarra, the Basque Country and La Rioja. Despite the fact that they received funds from the central Administration to improve such services, they did not increase them, but instead relieved their coffers at their expense, it is clear from the annual report of the State Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services. In addition, not all the budgeted money is spent: 55 million euros were left unexecuted, despite the fact that the care system suffers from significant deficits.
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