Minister ensures that Social Security will deal ruthlessly with elder abuse

The Minister for Labour, Solidarity and Welfare assured on Tuesday that Social Security would be “totally ruthless” in cases of elder abuse in nursing homes, highlighting the investment being made in re-qualifying social responses.

According to Ana Mendez Godinho, the Social Security Institute has “followed various situations” recently reported of alleged abuse of elderly people living in nursing homes, in Lar do Comércio, in Matosinhos, Delicado Raminho’s home, in Lourinhao or underground house in Palmela.

“[A Segurança Social] has this mission to be completely unforgiving when situations arise that are unacceptable from the point of view of the protection of people,” the minister told reporters during a visit to the works of Portela’s new United Social Unit, the Portuguese Red Cross (CRC).

This new infrastructure is funded by the Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PRR) and will enhance the social offer by creating 59 jobs in the Senior Residential Community and another 80 jobs in Home Support Services.

Ana Mendez Godinho took the opportunity to point out that this type of investment is also a challenge for social welfare, both in terms of updating existing responses and creating new social responses, similar to what is being done in Portela, Loures.

The Minister stressed that this is a response that will promote the autonomy and independence of the elderly.

When asked about the change in the number of recipients of the Social Inclusion Allowance (RSI), Ana Mendez Godinho stressed that it is the lowest since 2006 and reflects the change in the unemployment rate in the country, noting that if “very high”, the RSI follows this trend from a decrease in the number of people receiving social benefits.

Jornal de Notícias reports on Tuesday that Portugal had 195,545 RSI beneficiaries in January, the lowest in 17 years, in a series that saw the highest number of registrations in March 2010 with over 404,000 beneficiaries.