The residences ask for more investment and less taxes before the second wave: "They left us alone"

The residential sector has been in the spotlight since last March these centers became one of the hotbeds most affected by the pandemic.

Now, with the second wave of infections already established and the daily number of deaths on the rise, the sector's employer's association, the FED (

), has raised its voice to vindicate its actions during the health crisis and claim solutions that allow them to face the new upswing, improve assistance in general and cover the shortage of places in the face of the demographic challenge posed by the aging of the population.

"We had a problem: they left us alone. They cut our bridges. Primary care centers were mostly closed, if not collapsed.

We were considered to be sanitary spaces, but neither have we been nor do we want to be, so places must be created to serve users of residences ",

, general secretary of the FED,

has requested

during the virtual press conference that It took place this Wednesday to present the report

, prepared by the consulting firm PWC

Their demands have not stopped there.

Echevarría is missing common action plans and specific hospital places to care for patients with Covid-19 from residences.

It also demands

, as well as greater strengthening of primary care centers to link users of residences with the general health system.

"They have to be reinforced because if not, we will find ourselves in the same situation of isolation [as in March]," he assured.

In this sense, among its demands is also the creation of a

for cases of health emergencies and that health personnel of the public sector be integrated into residences for the elderly, covered by Administration personnel through Units of support from Primary Care.

Medicalizing residences was one of the most repeated demands by users and their families since the origin of the pandemic in Spain, but both Echevarría and Ignacio Fernández-Cid, president of the FED, have claimed that the increase in expenses that this would entail to be assumed by Health and Social Services.

"We had to find a culprit and the weakest link in the chain was us.

" said Fernández-Cid.

Bed deficit

But the challenges facing the sector are not only linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to employer data, Spain, with 4.4 places for every 100 elderly people, is below the 5 recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which represents a deficit of around 66,000 places, an amount which will be increasing and which is clearly insufficient to cope with the progressive aging of the population.

Along these lines, their calculations point out that in

, double the number existing in 2018, and to achieve them an

and the generation of 150,000 additional jobs would be necessary. "What we consider a feasible and reasonable challenge, but one that requires the necessary conditions to favor investment and that spirit of collaboration with the Administration that, historically, has worked in our country," says Fernández-Cid.

Both Echevarría and Fernández-Cid have highlighted the differences that separate public and private places.

Starting with the cost, which amounts to 170 euros per day in the case of public squares and 54 euros per day for private ones arranged by those same public administrations.

"That difference does not make sense," said the president of the employer's association.

To avoid the imbalance between the agreed prices and the costs of the service, the FED considers that there should be an alignment between the regulatory requirements of the service and the agreed prices, in such a way that neither the former condition the cost for the user, nor the latter. limit the quality, "for which the budgetary development of the Dependency Law and the orientation of prices to costs would be necessary."

Likewise, the employer warns that "if you want to guarantee the maintenance of minimum standards of residences, you must adequately remunerate the caregiver and attract enough investment to cover the demand for places. In addition, the public prices of the concerts must be aligned with costs,

, they collect.

Another difference that, in his opinion, reduces competitiveness and resources is the VAT they have to face, since while Public Administrations pay 4% taxes, the private sector faces 10%, when "VAT is a tax that is levied according to the product, not the payer ", in the words of Echevarría.

The sector, in figures

The report is full of data that offers a current x-ray of the sector and its composition.

Specifically, around 51% of the available places are public or arranged, although management is ultimately delegated to the private sector or the Third Sector.

Currently, there are projects in the portfolio of around 270 residential centers, with more than 25,000 spaces, of which 61% are from the private sector, either directly or through concession.

75% of the companies that operate in this sector are SMEs, "and, by the way, Spanish", has qualified Fernández-Cid.

Investment funds have 8% and multinationals, 11%.

"It is false that the majority of the sector is in the hands of investment funds," the president claimed.

Although the figure is still low, the entry in recent years of companies specializing in residential real estate assets and the arrival of new operators has significantly changed the investment landscape.

In 2019, investment in residences for the elderly reached 300 million euros, doubling the investment made in 2018.

It is a very atomized sector, in which there are around 5,600 residences, with an offer of almost 381,000 residential places (compared to 112,000 hospital beds, for example), which generates an economic activity of 4,500 million euros and employs more than 155,000 direct workers in 2018.

According to data from its own network of centers, 75% of residences in Spain were free from Covid-19, while the remaining 25% did have to face it.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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