A Parliamentary Secretariat for Active Ageing spokesperson told this newsroom that the waiting list for Long term care services reduced by 29.75% over the previous year.

Dr Justyne Caruana, the Parliamentary Secretary, explained that the waiting list is the lowest it has been in years. Back in September 2014, Dr Caruana was concerned about the waiting list, telling sections of the media that government was struggling to cope with with the demand.  Back then, there were over 2,000 people on the waiting list.

The amount of people waiting for assessment has also gone down by 34.5% when compared to last month, a spokesperson explained. The exact numbers are yet to be released.

The Parliamentary Secretariat has undertaken a number of schemes over the past couple of years. A spokesperson mainly attributed the results to two changes. Originally, those in need of long term care went before a board and their case was reviewed, he said. Today, the person in question would apply, be assessed through a multi-disciplinary team of professionals who would determine the person's condition and set the person's priority status according to their medical condition. That person would then be matched with the appropriate facility. The second, the spokesperson said, was the change at St Vincent De Paul to a long term care facility, thus meaning that only persons with high dependency are admitted.

“ The results are very positive and encouraging” Dr Caruana said. “The steps and measures we are taking are delivering the expected results. In the coming months we will be in a position to have assessment of applications in a pre-determined time. So far we are still assessing the pending assessments, which are on the waiting lists, but by the end of the year the list will be cleared”.