The Mayor of Calasparra, Jesus Navarro, has pledged that basic home care services and the jobs of eight home care workers will be safeguarded this year despite a 100% funding cut by the regional government.
At a press conference on Friday the Mayor announced that the regional government of Murcia had cut all funding for basic homecare social services delivered by the North East Social Service Department. The 22 workers employed by the department and its basic social service programmes will have to be sustained by local authorities like Calasparra.
In order to maintain a basic home care service, which includes home help, personal care, meals on wheels and the teleassistencia personal alarm system, for the 61 service users in Calasparra the Town Hall must find 95,300€ plus the salary and on costs of the eight homecare workers.
The Mayor has pledged to continue to supply basic social services to frail and dependent residents in their own homes at least until December. However, he has announced that the situation for next year would be untenable if the regional government did not provide some funds.
It was a “chaotic situation” with “cuts aimed at the weakest members of society,” he said.
North West Murcia has the highest percentage of elderly residents in the region of Murcia and thus was disproportionately affected by this total cut in funds, he said.
The Mayor told the press conference that the Town Hall was committed to caring for the elderly and disabled people of Calasparra within their own homes but that the service was very expensive to deliver. It was much cheaper, he said, to care for a resident in a hospital, residence or centre.
The Socialist Party will table a motion at the next full Town Hall meeting opposing the cuts which “put the basic pillars of well- being in danger and stating that if the cuts continued into next year it would make these “indispensable services” impossible to deliver.
