After visiting the Jurdaičiai Social Care Home, Erika Leonaitė, the Head of the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office, notes that while the living conditions of individuals in the Jurdaičiai social care home are generally adequately ensured, there is a systemic problem regarding the lack of an effective strategic orientation towards the reorganization of care institutions, which has become a significant issue. The Seimas Ombudsperson recommended to the Ministry of Social Security and Labour to take measures so that the goals, tasks, activities, and achievable results in the operational documents of social care institutions, whose ownership rights and responsibilities are implemented by the ministry, would be geared towards the reorganization of care institutions in preparing individuals to live in the community.
“When it comes to individuals residing in care institutions, the greatest concern from a human rights perspective is that the processes of reorganizing care institutions in Lithuania are happening in a very limited scope. In this regard, the situation at the Jurdaičiai social care home is not exceptional but illustrative,” says Erika Leonaitė, the Seimas Ombudsperson, highlighting the systemic problem at the state level regarding the lack of readiness to carry out and implement the reorganization of social care institutions.
Leonaitė observes that during inspection both the administration and the staff indicated that both in the Jurdaičiai group living home and the main unit of the care home, there are individuals who with appropriate assistance could live in the community. However, due to the lack of housing for individuals to live in the community, these individuals cannot leave the care home.
“This year, only one resident is planned to be prepared for community living by the Jurdaičiai social care home. The administration identified the shortage of housing in the municipality as the main obstacle. Meanwhile, several care home residents expressed their desire to return to their families or live in the community now or in the future and asked for assistance to do so,” says the Seimas Ombudsperson.
Leonaitė also emphasizes the challenging situation that has arisen – in Jurdaičiai as in other social care homes, the number of available places is reduced each year as part of the efforts to reorganize care institutions, but at the same time there is a waiting list to enter these institutions.
“As of 8 August, this year, there were no vacant places among all the 247 places of the Jurdaičiai social care home, and 12 individuals were on the waiting list. Generally, the same situation exists also in other social care institutions. This suggests that, for now, there are either no serious alternatives to institutional care that would ensure independence and necessary support in the community, based on international standards, or they are clearly insufficient,” notes the Seimas Ombudsperson E. Leonaitė.
Residents of Jurdaičiai social care home are ensured with the opportunity to take care of the household independently or depending on their health status with the assistance of the staff and to maintain their independence skills – doing laundry, cooking, shopping, caring for pets – but residents are not taught how to use public transportation, and little attention is given to developing their financial literacy skills. According to some social workers namely financial management could be a significant challenge for care home residents when living in the community. This highlights the need for more attention to this issue.
In terms of living conditions, the inspection determined that individuals living in the Jurdaičiai care home were provided with opportunities to move independently or with the help of staff within the care home premises and beyond. They were able to interact with visitors and other residents in conditions that ensured privacy. It was observed that the residents’ desire to visit family members, relatives, caregivers, or supervisors was taken into account, and assistance was provided to maintain or establish relationships with them.
The Seimas Ombudsperson also commends the good practice at the Jurdaičiai social care home, where at least part of the information, such as daily menus in the common dining area and in some facility sections, was presented in a large font and image format. However, internal regulations relevant to residents, such as rules of internal procedure or rules for ensuring privacy, were not provided in easily understandable language for residents. It was therefore, recommended to address these shortcomings.
In terms of areas for improvement, the report also notes that while the infrastructure of the social care home is generally adapted for residents with mobility, visual, or hearing impairments, certain spaces like the sports hall and library present challenges due to infrastructure-related issues for individuals with reduced mobility.
Highlighting the importance of receiving quality not only physical health care but also psychological services, the Seimas Ombudsperson E. Leonaitė states in the report that there is insufficient accessibility to psychological services for Jurdaičiai social care home residents.
Changes related to the implementation of the Seimas Ombudsperson’s recommendation, where the Ministry of Social Security and Labour was recommended to organize preventive dental and oral health checks for the social care home residents and provide dental prosthetics as needed are also evaluated positively. The report mentions that the operational plan of the Jurdaičiai social care home and the annual tasks of the institution’s director were adjusted based on the recommendation of the Seimas Ombudsperson, and these tasks are actively being implemented.
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