12.02 – Wednesday 19 June 2024
(The following text is taken entirely from the press note sent to the Opinion Agency) –
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Fenalt condemns the statements of the president of Upipa. “Let’s not feed illusions: the lack of staff in Trentino’s RSAs is structural”. “The relief places are few and more are needed. But in an emergency situation like the current one, the problem of operators cannot be ignored” (Moser, Fenalt)
The problem of care for the elderly in a society where life expectancy is lengthening and the birth rate is decreasing is a fundamental aspect of the quality of life of a community. Trentino is no exception, where the shortage of staff in retirement homes is a daily emergency. In recent days the provincial health councilor, Mario Tonina, has even invoked the possibility of establishing international agreements to attract OSS and nurses. He is therefore surprised to learn from the president of Upipa that there would be no staffing problems for the “relief posts”. “It’s true that there are few relief places in Trentino’s RSAs – comments Roberto Moser, deputy general secretary of Fenalt, the majority union in Trentino’s retirement homes – and that more would be needed, but we cannot get across the idea that they do not pose personnel problems, just because they are already included in the staff.
Reality should not be mystified nor illusions should be fueled. In the Trentino RSAs the staffing problems are structural. Consider that according to our estimates, another thousand operators would be needed in addition to the current ones in service. It is therefore true that the spaces should be increased, but the problem of staff shortages should not be ignored, otherwise we are only discussing parking for the elderly. And this is not assistance, but business.”
For years, Fenalt has supported the need to review the parameters of the guest/operator relationship to increase the quality of services and alleviate working conditions. “If it is true that life expectancy is lengthening – specifies Moser – it is also true that the average age of operators has also risen and is now approaching 55 years. And this poses significant problems in a heavy job like that of the OSS.”
Over time, the RSAs in Trentino have also seen a profound change in the typology of users and an increase in cases of serious pathologies: “Today the RSAs are real and clinical with high level care needs. Therefore it is not acceptable for more places to be requested without underlining the need to provide adequate responses in terms of service. The staff is exhausted by workloads, discouraged by the difficulty of reconciling family and professional life, demotivated by unrewarding salaries. We can’t go on like this. For us, we deal daily with mothers or fathers who don’t know how to manage their children, with children who don’t know how to manage elderly parents. Assistance cannot do without these people and cannot fail to take their needs into account. We’re not talking about an assembly line that can be automated.” Moser concludes. Fenalt also specifies that he is still waiting for the call promised by councilor Tonina in recent months to open a discussion table dedicated to resolving the problems that afflict retirement homes and hopes that this can happen before the summer break.
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Roberto Moser
Deputy Secretary General Fenalt
