Abuse in nursing homes and in the disability sector: the government announces “general mobilization”

Two years after the nursing home scandal and the day after the broadcast of a report denouncing situations of mistreatment in the disability sector, the government announced the creation of a unit in each department, responsible for processing and evaluating reports of mistreatment, relating to adults in vulnerable situations.

This therefore includes disabled people, but not only: elderly people or people in very precarious situations are also concerned.

A national strategy to combat abuse

It was the Minister Delegate in charge of the elderly and people with disabilities, Fadila Khattabi, who made this announcement yesterday, Monday March 25, to around fifty players in the sector. She announces a “general mobilization” on the issue, which must, she says, “continue and expand”.

What measures will be actually put in place?

• She announced that 9,200 establishments which welcome people with disabilities will be controlled, in particular IMEs, nursing homes, specialized reception homes and Establishment and work assistance service (Esat).
• In addition to centralizing reports of mistreatment within each department, the unit will also be responsible for “the immediate transmission of this information to the competent authorities” (director of the ARS, representative of the State in the department or president of the departmental council). In addition, the unit will liaise with people who have reported mistreatment and will be responsible for establishing an annual review of its activity.
• Personal service professionals (home helpers, home cleaning employees, etc.) will be prohibited from practicing in the event of a final conviction for a crime or misdemeanor. A “certificate of good repute” can be given to anyone who requests it. An employer alerted to an indictment or conviction contested on appeal may suspend or even dismiss the worker concerned.

A telephone platform will be set up in 2025

Among the government’s other announcements is the establishment of a “telephone and multi-channel platform dedicated to reporting abuse”. Scheduled for 2025, it will facilitate reporting, by being connected to the collection and processing unit and by allowing anonymous reporting of abuse, if necessary.

“This measure establishes the existence of a single national number dedicated to reporting acts of mistreatment towards the elderly and people with disabilities“, with direct transmission of “facts reported to the departmental unit, responsible for their evaluation and processing” specifies the government.

Finally, among the measures announced is “promoting a common culture of well-treatment“. The government therefore plans, through concrete actions, to fight against the stigmatization of these vulnerable people. This will involve, for example, “meetings, between generations, in order to fight against age-related prejudices” we can read in the press kit.

“VSThis collective dynamic will be accompanied by a generalization of training on mistreatment of professionals in the social, medico-social and care sectors. it is further clarified. For Fadila Khattabi, this entire strategy will be “a tool for monitoring and steering” everyone’s effort and that it will “the subject of an independent annual opinion established by a dedicated national commission, attached to the National Health Conference“.