“There is a private care home in Nicho de Riachos, here in Torres Novas, with 10 residents, and there were various complaints from family members and others, which led the Regional Social Security Center and the GNR to investigate what was happening. They concluded that the care home was not functioning properly and that the 10 residents would have to be removed from there,” the mayor of Torres Novas, in the district of Santarém, told Lusa today.
According to Pedro Ferreira (PS), “Social Security ended up distributing them,” and they have “already been relocated, some to the Pedrógão care home in Torres Novas, others to a similar unit in Samora Correia, and the rest to their own family members’ homes, who agreed to take in the elderly.”
The mayor emphasized that “the authorities’ response went very well,” in an “effective action,” and there was also a “prompt reception” of the elderly in the ERPIs of Pedrógão and Samora Correia, as “care homes subsidized by Social Security must guarantee a percentage of availability” for emergency situations “or situations similar to what happened” in the locality of Nicho de Riachos, in the parish of Riachos.
On Sunday, the GNR reported that it had closed a care home on Friday that housed 10 elderly people in the municipality of Torres Novas, due to various infractions related to health, safety, and human resources.
In a statement, the GNR Territorial Command of Santarém indicated that the operation took place as part of an investigation into elder abuse, and after an inspection of the ERPI, in a joint action with Social Security and the Public Health Authority of Lezíria Tejo.
“Following the action, the NIAVE [Nucleus for Investigation and Support to Specific Victims] officers identified three employees and ten elderly individuals, aged between 70 and 88 years old, carrying out procedures and gathering evidence as part of the investigation,” the GNR described.
During the inspection, the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Inspection Unit of Social Security drew up a notice of administrative offense, with various infractions regarding health, safety, and human resources issues.
“Given the conditions found in the ERPI, the structure was closed, and the 10 elderly residents were relocated to other residential structures and family homes,” the GNR noted, adding that the facts were communicated to the Judicial Court of Torres Novas.
