For months, Formentera’s Brolls nursing home has been experiencing a situation of internal tension marked by sick leave, emergency reinforcements and doubts about its management model. Although the Consell has insisted that shifts are covered and care is guaranteed, the pressure of care and the lack of stable staff have forced the Balearic Government to intervene with a technical support service. The question is clear: at what point is the crisis and what can this advice really contribute?
A small center with increasing pressure
The residence currently has 18 users and a staff of 14 regular workers, to which 7 reinforcements from the Home Help Service (SAD) and the day center have been added. In total, 22 people cover the daily care after a period marked by a significant number of absences: five of the fourteen staff members were on leave in November.
This imbalance between resources and needs led the Consell to adopt immediate measures – such as improving the video surveillance system or reviewing security equipment – and to request internal reinforcements so as not to leave shifts uncovered after a resident escaped, which aggravated the problem. The situation opened the door to an underlying problem: the organization of the facility needed a structural overhaul.
Why the Government intervenes: risk for the elderly
On Tuesday, during the plenary session of the Parliament, the Councilor for Families, Social Welfare and Dependency Care, Sandra Fernandez, confirmed that the Government has activated a technical support service for the residence. As she explained, the decision responds to “the existence of deficiencies that put the lives of the elderly at risk”, a diagnosis that raised institutional concern.
The Govern considers that there are key aspects of management that must be corrected immediately to ensure safety and quality of care. For this reason, it has deployed a support system that includes:technical planning of staff shifts by specialists;regular meetings to accompany daily management,guidance on internal procedures,alternative ways to make up for sick leave, and the provision of information on the quality of care in the hospital. and ensure continuity of care. In addition to n ew technical visits to reinforce to reinforce follow-up.
The Consell clarifies: visits within the usual framework of cooperation.
The Consell de Formentera, consulted by La Voz de Ibiza, clarifies that the presence of the Govern is part of the calendar of visits that the Balearic government has been making to all residences since September. And it adds: when a center receives people referred by the Govern, the autonomous administration has the obligation to accompany and reinforce the service.
The Consell stresses that the technical assessment after the first visit “was that the residence has adequate facilities and organization”, despite the recent difficulties, and that precisely for this reason improvement and support measures have been put in place.
At the same time, the island institution recalls that in November it opened a dialogue with the Government’s Dependency Foundation to study its management model and explore alternatives that could improve both user care and the working conditions of the staff.
A dragging crisis: casualties, labor tension and the need for reform
The communiqué issued in November by the Consell acknowledged a complex scenario: five simultaneous sick leaves in an already limited staff and doubts as to whether these problems were related to the physical or mental workload. For this reason, a specific analysis was requested from Occupational Risks to detect the real causes.
At the same time, meetings are being prepared with trade unions and the Consell de Participación de la Residencia has been convened, where families, staff and management can propose improvements and monitor actions. However, from the General Union of Workers (UGT) have indicated to this media that they have not been convened and that they only know that surveys are being conducted to workers.
“The residence has not been functioning well for a long time. A structural problem of lack of staff and shifts,” said Jose Ramon Mateos, UGT referent, who said that at the time they denounced the irregularities that this Tuesday admitted the Consellera.
What can change with the accompaniment of the Govern?
Although the Consell insists that this is normal cooperation, the activation of such a specific technical accompaniment indicates that the regional administration considers that the situation requires close monitoring.
This support can be used tonormalize shifts and stabilize the workforce.reducing dependence on temporary reinforcements. In addition to h omologate internal procedures to autonomous community standards, preventing health care risks, especially in a small centerespecially in a small center where any casualty has an impact on care; detecting structural failures and propose changes in the management model, and dtion to families, preventing the nursing home from falling into a situation in whichto prevent the nursing home from falling into a dynamic of deterioration.
