The Provincial Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities of Seville, COCEMFE Seville, has participated in the 3rd coordination meeting of the European project SAFER PATH, held last week online.
In this virtual meeting, the results obtained in the discussion groups held over the previous months to analyse the situation and problems faced by both users and home care professionals were shared.
Among the topics discussed in the virtual meeting, common points shared by the project partners have become evident, such as the restriction of services in the field of dependency care, due to budget cuts, which affects both the end user, who is deprived of adequate care for their basic needs and established by law, and the professionals, as they have to deal with an excessive workload and a hostile working environment because they are the recipients of the dissatisfaction expressed by relatives and users.
Another of the common situations detected is the need for more training in specific fields such as emotional, communicative or digital competences of the professionals who provide services to users. As well as the use of tools for the improvement of time management.
By solving the issue mentioned above, it is expected that professionals will increase their professional performance, a performance that is highly valued by the users who benefit from these services.
On the other hand, it is noted that by empowering the independence of the users towards a search for solutions to certain deficiencies in the areas that they themselves point out, they could solve the deficiencies in training support that they have expressed. Verbi gracia of what has been said, would be the self-training in skills and knowledge in the treatment of users who present cases with mental illnesses or disorders, types of dementia or contexts with Alzheimer’s disease.
It is also necessary to carry out an information and awareness campaign on these problems, both for professionals and users, with an emphasis on family members so that they can empathise and find consensus on practical solutions to the problems they face on a daily basis. Parallel to the above, also carry out awareness-raising work with those responsible for executing the directives of health policies and public health services, since the SAFER PATH project has made a commitment to make public both the existing problems and the claim of the right of users and professionals to decent conditions, generating a bridge between the different actors so that they can find real solutions that give, in the short term, a way out of the situation of abandonment in which, in some cases, users currently find themselves.
At the end of the virtual meeting, issues related to the delivery of the first draft of the material that will be developed thanks to the contributions and suggestions collected, which will be shared with professionals in the coming months, where they can exchange impressions on the matter and thus improve the product that professionals will benefit from, once it is launched in 2025.
Finally, the organisation, logistics and work agenda of the second face-to-face coordination meeting, which will take place in Seville at the end of January 2025, were discussed.
It is important to mention that this European project in which we take part, also counts with the participation of the partners, the Italian entity Consorzio Cooperative Sociali and the Greek entity Action Synergy SA.
You can find detailed information on this project at the following link: https://cocemfesevilla.es/que-hacemos/programas-europeos/safer-social-professionals-at-home-safer-path
