Brussels without more checks and fewer beds in rest homes
The Brussels government on Thursday approved a new ordinance on care for the elderly in second reading. Which certainly means a reduction in the number of recognized retirement home beds and more annual checks on care institutions. Minister Alain Maron (Ecolo) reports this.
A statement of the retirement home ordinance was already on the government agenda before the corona crisis. In Brussels, four Orpea residential care centers are getting a progress check after various complaints about staff shortages, poor quality care and a lack of nutritious meals.
The problem is not limited to Orpea’s commercial nursing homes. Iriscare, the administration of Brussels healthcare institutions, the data of the complaints are divided between private and public healthcare institutions. One (Flemish) residential care center in Anderlecht has been on the blacklist of the Flemish Agency for Care and Health for three years already. There is no similar list for the 135 residential care centers of the GGC.
In the new ordinance, all rest homes will in principle receive recognition for an indefinite period. However, every rusted house is inspected more often. Iriscare took over the control authority from the Joint Community Commission (GGC) for this. “The idea is to check all residential care centers every three years,” says Tania Dekens of Iriscare. For rust houses that meet the quality requirements, not the control.
New ones
Today, such an inspection can only take place after a previous complaint. That will change from January 1 next year. Iriscare will determine how many extra inspectors they need for the new checks, Dekens reports.
Also the change. Today, the inspection can only oblige a rust house to close completely, but that has never happened. From next year there will be intermediate forms: a temporary suspension of the recognition, a fine for the appointment of a commissioner as the new guardian of the rest home.
broadening elderly care
The current nursing home legislation dates back to 2008. The characteristics that are reasonably based on an old standard and the permits can also simply be passed on if the rest home changes operator.
Minister Alain Maron makes a new outline of care for the elderly in Brussels. The current nursing home ordinance is a transitional measure, pending the larger plan. This will also take into account home care, service flats or alternative forms of living for seniors. The number of beds in rest and care homes must then be reduced.
According to the Kenniscentrum Woonzorg, Brussels has an average of ten rest home or rest and care beds per hundred people over 65. In Flanders there are only six.
Fewer beds
The figures also show that the beds can be lowered. Each year, the 135 residential care centers in Brussels count with 15,236 licensed beds. In practice, only about 11,350 of those beds are occupied today. Financing is therefore only available for those beds. Meanwhile, another 1,056 new beds are in the pipeline, for example in retirement homes that have yet to be completed.
The new ordinance will cancel the permit for the latter beds if they do not see the light of day within two years.
From 1 January 2024 should also gradually be given a new implementation. Residential care centers must then transfer half of their empty beds to the Region. These beds can then be given a different version under the management of a non-commercial player such as the OCMW of a non-profit association. In each rest home, at least three beds are always available for new residents.
The new ordinance still has to pass the Council of State and parliament.