The Social Security Institute closed 277 nursing homes and 27 day care centers in the last three years, following almost four thousand inspection actions, more than 1400 of them to homes, which forced 33 urgent closures.

Data from the Social Security Institute (ISS), sent to the Lusa agency, reveal that in the last three years, between 2016 and 31 July 2018, 3878 actions were taken to inspect social facilities, 1446 of which were for nursing homes and other 482 to crèches.

Only in 2018 have been audited 101 kindergartens and 297 nursing homes, among a total of 768 inspections the social facilities, which resulted in the closure of 56 homes and eight kindergartens .

Over the three years, Social Security closed 277 households, 88 of which in 2016, 133 in 2017 and 56 until July 31, 2018. In relation to day-care centers, the ISS was forced to close 27, most of them of them (12) last year, after having closed in 2016 and having already closed eight in 2018.

During the three-year period, there were 33 urgent closures of homes and four crèches, and this situation only occurs when “there is an imminent danger to the health and integrity of the users”.

The ISS explained that, in these cases, the users are immediately withdrawn from the establishments, “being sent to their families or to social responses with the proper conditions, made available by the Institute of Social Security.”

On the other hand, 119 applications for licensing of new day care centers since 2016, 49 of them soon in that year, 60 in the following year and the remaining 10 in 2018.

The number of users covered by the cooperation agreements between the institutions and the State has increased in the last two years, with a further 803 children and 1,883 elderly between 2017 and 17 August 2018.

According to the ISS data, in 2017 there were 1864 childcare co-operation agreements, covering 72,391 children, number increasing to 73194 minors in 2018, despite the number of cooperation agreements to maintain.

On the other hand, the cooperation agreements for the Residential Structures of the Elderly (ERPI) went from 1623 in 2017 to 1645 in 2018, while the number of users covered increased from 59151 in 2017 to 61034 in 2018.