Homes for the elderly have warned they are running out of resources as their expenses shoot up by around 40 per cent.
The extra costs come from COVID-19 prevention measures.
Five service providers, who look after nearly half of the 5,500 elderly residents in long-term care, said they have been on the alert since the beginning of the pandemic, knowing that an outbreak at a home would burden and “block” the national health system.
Visits to homes for the elderly were stopped on March 12, and from then on service providers took their own precautions, including heightened hygiene protocols and wearing of personal protective equipment in line with infection control measures.
Some homes had to be adapted to ensure minimal contact between residents, carers and anyone who visits.
The homes also faced increased overtime costs as more staff was needed for cleaning or to coordinate video calls between residents and their relatives, among others.
Most service providers who spoke to Times of Malta also opted for live-in staff, including carers, cleaners, chefs, maintenance personnel and management.
Some have been in lockdown with residents for 10 weeks, according to Natalie Briffa Farrugia, CEO of Caremalta Group, which cares for 1,650 elderly people.
For some service providers this required adapting spaces into living quarters, providing laundry facilities, food and transportation from their accommodation premises to the homes.
For Church homes, the additional lockdown expenses reach some €3,000 every day
Meanwhile, the income for private service providers dropped as admissions and respite or day-care services were also stopped.
For Church homes, which do not register any profit, the additional lockdown expenses reach some €3,000 every day, and donations are not keeping up, explained André Vassallo Grant, director of Church homes for the elderly, which caters for 300 elderly people in four homes.
Without any state help, most service providers have seen their expenses increase by two fifths. While so far the service providers have been successful in the fight on their own steam, they believe it is not sustainable in the long-run, especially since the elderly will remain vulnerable for as long as COVID-19 is around. Sarah Cassar from Casa Antonia, which cares for 160 residents, noted that the more measures were relaxed outside of the homes, the higher the precautions at the residences, thus the higher the costs.
Support could take various forms and could include subsidies on personal protective equipment and waiving tax on overtime for carers, the service providers noted.
“This could be an incentive for all healthcare workers – whether in the private, church or public sector – especially if they are called in again with the onset of a second wave,” said Fleur Balzan, managing director of Central Home, which cares for 100 elderly people.
Angelle Falzon, director of Caring First Limited, responsible for 150 elderly, said that while all residences had isolation beds, should one person get infected, there was no national holistic contingency plan guiding residences on what would happen in such instances.
The service providers are also wary of a lack of exit guidelines for homes for the elderly after measures started being relaxed over the past few days.
Briffa Farrugia noted that staff and residents, in lockdown for weeks have, since the relaxation of measures, started to feel “imprisoned”.
“Some of the elderly, especially those who led an active life before COVID-19 have started asking when they will be let out again. But we have been left in the dark – the sector for the elderly has not been given any guidelines on what to do next, and when.”