Published on: 6/28/2009.

MORE THAN 11 per cent of the national health budget is “directly” spent on the elderly.

And $6.3 million is spent on the Alternative Care for the Elderly Programme alone.

Minister of Health Donville Inniss made the disclosure on Thursday at the opening of a two-day workshop hosted by the Barbados Elderly Care Association (BECA) at PomMarine Hotel.

He said while the increase in life expectancy and achievements in health care were two things to be proud of, a high percentage of the ageing population suffered from chronic non-communicable diseases which were costly to treat.

“With the advances in medical and health care, people are living longer and this has begun to strain the resources provided through the state-managed provision.

“Moreover, those who find themselves with few social networks into old age have been found to be increasingly vulnerable to poverty,” Inniss said.

With so much money being channelled to the elderly, Inniss said, the ministry was reviewing its procedures for monitoring residential and assisted living facilities.

“This will involve continual monitoring of the status of each home, increased inspection visits, outstanding concerns, compliance with formal notices and action taken,” he said.

“My ministry is not prepared to settle for mediocrity. We have a legal and moral duty to ensure that our elderly residents are placed in a safe and secure environment where they receive optimal care and attention,” Inniss added.

He told the nursing home owners that they had a duty to raise the standards of their facilities and weed out the bad ones, because a “bad nursing home tarnishes the reputation of all of them”.

Inniss said the ministry and the BECA would be working together to determine minimum standards, and they would agree on maintenance and penalties where necessary.

Association president Maureen Ward said the workshop was part of the group’s ongoing training programme.

She said one of the aims was to bring a single standard to elderly care that would be mirrored in the approximately 60 homes across the island. (YB)