It highlights that the number of people attended has increased by 106,558 but warns that a «low-cost» model is being consolidated
More than 34,000 people died in 2024 while waiting to be assessed or attended to by the Dependency Care System in Spain, one every 15 minutes, and over 270,000 are still waiting to be assessed or attended to, according to the XXV Report of the State Dependency Observatory, carried out by the State Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services in Spain and presented this Friday in the Congress of Deputies.
Specifically, the report, consulted by Europa Press, indicates that between December 2023 and November 2024, «34,252 people» died on the waiting list for dependency care: 17,158 people awaiting resolution and 17,094 who were unable to exercise their rights, even though their dependency status was recognized.
This means, according to the study’s authors, that «every 15 minutes» a person dies in the «bureaucratic maze» of the Law in Spain. In these 18 years since this law was approved, they add, 3,699,078 people have received care from the Dependency Care System while 900,000 people have died on the waiting lists.
«This is a terrible fact, when we mention this to the ministries, since these data became public, it is what bothers the rulers the most that people talk about the deaths in their autonomous community, about the deaths in the country, even the minister himself said in a press conference ‘you only talk about deaths’. Damn it, well then, there shouldn’t be waiting lists. If there weren’t 270,000 people on the waiting list, there wouldn’t be so many deaths,» denounced the president of the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services, José Manuel Ramírez, during the presentation of the report in the Congress of Deputies.
Additionally, Social Services directors claim that 270,325 people are waiting to be attended to, in various stages of the process, 26,106 less than in 2023, and at the current pace, it would take «more than 10 years» to achieve full attention.
This data sparked controversy last January as the Ministry of Social Rights denied it, stating that there were 193,745 people in this situation. The Association, on the other hand, insists that 2024 ended with 270,325 people awaiting a process: 142,466 people with recognized rights awaiting care, 36,778 fewer than the previous year; and 127,879 people awaiting assessment, 10,698 more than a year ago.
Furthermore, they point out that the average time from application to resolution of the case was 334 days in 2023, ten more than the previous year.
«We have to reduce the waiting lists, it can’t be that this year the average waiting time for dependency care has increased by 10 days. Last year it was 324 and this year 334, that is unbearable. Our rulers need to know that we have to be able to provide care within 180 days, which very few communities do, only three,» emphasized Ramírez.
Also, the study authors have warned that 44% of the reduction in dependency waiting lists was due to «deaths» and «not because the autonomous communities were doing their job well.» They also lamented that in 2024, the number of people awaiting a dependency benefit increased in Madrid and the Canary Islands.
In any case, the study reveals that in 2024, the number of people attended to in the Dependency Care System increased to 1,518,424, representing a growth of 7.55%, that is, 106,558 more people attended to than at the beginning of the year.
It also highlights that 69,650 more people have their dependency status recognized; there are 104,276 more requests and 93,584 more degree resolutions.
LOW-COST MODEL
However, the Association states that «not even the significant increase in funding received by the System between 2021 and 2023, in the Shock Plan, has prevented the System from developing a ‘low-cost’ model, with very low-intensity or low-amount benefits and services that do not meet the needs of people in a dependent situation.»
An «embarrassing» example for Social Services directors is the telecare service since, according to the data they have collected, «in Spain, there are 65,973 beneficiaries of the Dependency System who receive Telecare as their only benefit,» 4,976 more than in 2023.
On the other hand, the report notes that 41.9% of System beneficiaries are assisted with the Family Caregiver Benefit, a percentage that increased in 2024, when this benefit had an average monthly amount of 264.11 euros (currently received by 636,030 people).
According to the study, these amounts are, on average: 168.8 euros/month for Grade I; 277.2 euros/month for Grade II, and 384.6 euros/month for Grade III.
TWO AND A HALF HOURS OF HOME CARE
Likewise, it indicates that Home Help has average monthly hourly intensities of 35.65 hours, by grades: 17.4 hours/month for Grade I; 39.8 hours/month for Grade II, and 60.2 hours/month for Grade III, two and a half hours daily from Monday to Friday for the latter, which is «clearly insufficient» for the association, as these are people who need support permanently.
The Association notes that a reform project of the Dependency Law has recently been approved but denounces that it has been done «without a budget increase and when the current law has not yet been fully implemented.»
In their opinion, it would be necessary to increase the dependency budget by 1 billion euros in the next General State Budgets for these «good intentions» to become a reality, demanding that the Autonomous Communities streamline procedures to reduce waiting lists, increase benefit amounts and service intensities, and allow compatibilities.
By territories, the report warns that «enormous inequalities persist both in coverage and management models.» Thus, it indicates that 9 communities approved the scale this year. Castilla y León and Castilla La Mancha, both with 8.3 points, top this classification. Murcia (3.1), the Canary Islands (3.3), Catalonia (3.6), and Cantabria (3.6) are at the bottom.
For this scale, Social Services directors study 18 indicators such as beneficiaries with effective PIA benefit over the total potentially dependent population; people in dependency limbo; or public spending on benefits and services per potentially dependent population, among others.