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The Department of Social Rights of the Generalitat has launched a web search engine for care centers for the elderly with detailed information and photographs of the spaces and services of each facility. In particular, you can look for residences, day care centers, sheltered housing and integral care services in the rural area (SAIAR) for the elderly, both publicly owned, as well as social or private initiatives. The new web search engine can be consulted at dretssocials.gencat.cat/cercadorresidences.
This new website - which currently includes information on around 1,800 centers - represents a very important qualitative leap in terms of the service offered to users and families. Using any device with an internet connection, you can consult information such as the ownership of the center and the managing entity, how many places there are and how many are public, the average waiting time to access them, which services are available they offer, like the facilities and the rooms, contact or service hours. Maps with locations and photographs are also included. The tiles can be downloaded or shared.
During the presentation of the website, the Minister for Social Rights, Carles Campuzano i Canadés, highlighted the great effort the Department is making to position itself in the 21st century with initiatives like this, "of particular relevance, since we are facilitating the service to citizens, but we also work for the right of people to decide where they want to be cared for and we do it with the endorsement of the Generalitat". "It is also a leap forward in the commitment to transparency, which is added to other efforts we are making in the social field", added the minister, and gave as examples the creation of new places, the deployment of integrated social and health care, new models focused on personal care, new infrastructure or more funding.
Users of the application can search by location and by type of center (residence, day center, sheltered housing or SAIAR) and then apply the different filters. For example, you can prioritize proximity or waiting time or the type of place, the facilities or the activities organized there.
Until now, families looking for a place in some type of facility for the elderly received a paper list of centers with the corresponding addresses. With the new search engine, not only is the information available to users enormously expanded, but it translates into a gain for the autonomy of families and, in return, the workload of professionals is lightened of Social Services. It is also a useful tool for center managers so that they can publicize their services.
The search engine is part of the Digital Transformation Plan launched by the Department of Social Rights to strengthen the effectiveness of social policies, modernize and legitimize the welfare state. The plan has more than 83 million euros of European funds, including some from Next Generation EU.
The core of the plan is the eSocial platform, which brings together a set of 12 information systems (one of which is the website of residences and care centers for the elderly) that are transversally transforming all areas of the department and they connect him with the different agents of social intervention, together with the Center for Telecommunications and Information Technologies (CTTI). A project that allows you to automate procedures and reduce deadlines.
The search engine is already in operation, but it will be expanded with new information that the different participating centers will upload. At the moment, there are all public facilities, all those that receive public funding and also 90% of private establishments.
The Department is also working to later incorporate information related to inspections and more functionalities for the user, for example, a private area where users can rate the service or know their place on the waiting list. It is also valued to include information relating to care centers for people with disabilities or mental illness.
