Applicants for running of Church homes for elderly must respect institution’s ‘ethos’

Helena Grech Six bidders currently vying to run Church homes for the elderly will have to be reviewed by an Evaluation Committee before being approved, to prevent possible scenarios such as a bidder also seeking to build on Outside Development Zone land or, say, run a gentlemen’s club.

In comments to this newspaper, Curia Administrative Secretary Michael Pace Ross explained: “All bidders are being screened by the Evaluation Committee to ensure a quality leap in our [the Church’s] homes [for the elderly], and therefore they have to be managed by experts in care homes for the elderly.”

The Church had issued a call for expressions of interest for the running of its homes for the elderly, or one particular home so that small bidders are not excluded, due to changes in the national minimum standards for such homes. In comments to the press, Mr Pace Ross said that such changes would require an investment of many millions of euros in order to make the necessary changes.

The policy document on the national minimum standards lists 38 propositions over 54 pages, and gets into the specifics of cooling, ventilation, heating, ratio of staff to residents, hygiene, food quality and every aspect of adequate care.

Malta’s ageing population, in line with the rest of the Western world and Japan as a result of modern couples having fewer and fewer children, together with the ‘baby boomers’ reaching pensionable age, has created greater demand for such homes, and therefore the need to ensure their standards.

Mr Pace Ross also said that any successful bidder would have to abide by national employment legislation for all its workers. “We are in favour of equal pay for work of equal value, and we will insist on this. There are collective agreements in place for existing staff at church homes, and will see that they are respected.”

When asked twice whether they would award contracts to bidders with environmental breaches, firstly Mr Pace Ross said: “The Archdiocese of Malta will be guided by Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment and human ecology Laudato Si.”

The paper to which Mr Pace Ross referred is a lengthy document written Pope Francis that has been described as a ‘wake-up call’ for the public on the destruction of the environment.

A section of the text reads: “So far I (Pope Francis) have attempted to take stock of our present situation, pointing to the cracks in the planet that we inhabit as well as to the profoundly human causes of envi- ronmental degradation. Although the contemplation of this reality in itself has already shown the need for a change of direction and other courses of action, now we shall try to outline the major paths of dialogue which can help us escape the spiral of self-destruction which currently engulfs us”.

In the light of the tone of this document, and the Church’s replies to this newsroom’s questions, it would seem that strict environmental standards will be applied by its Evalua- tion Committee.

Mr Pace Ross also said that it is not the Church’s intention to enter into a joint venture at this stage, meaning that the winning bidders would, as per their application, be running homes for the elderly themselves, under the Church’s guidelines.

When asked whether the Church will insist that bidders employ Catholic staff, Mr Pace Ross said: “The Archdiocese of Malta will require the bidder or bidders to employ profession- als in management and in the day-to-day running of care homes for the elderly, irrespective of their religious beliefs. However, being Church homes, operators will be required to embrace the values and ethos of the Catholic Church.”

Lastly, he explained that the Church already has a publicprivate partnership contract in place “which covers 140 beds across four Church homes for the elderly: Casa Leone in St Julian’s, the Holy Family Home in Naxxar, Dar Sawra and Dar Sant’ Anna glea.”

In 2015, the Curia would have found itself financially ‘in the red’ were it not for unrealised gains from exchange rates. In comments to other members of the press, however, it was stated that the Church is not seeking to increase its profits but rather to use its money more efficiently and ensure that any extra funds are funnelled back to those who need them. in Rabat in Sen-