How many people work in a nursing home in Spain

A nursing home is basically an adapted building, a team of professionals and a way of working that supports the residents with quality and respect. 

The care home offers 24-hour hotel service, help with activities of daily living, personal support and a certain degree of medical care. The team of professionals is therefore a key element.

For many people who have a relative living in a nursing home, the feeling is that there is never enough staff.  But, how many people usually work in a care home?

The regulations affecting nursing homes are regional (Comunidad Autónoma), so there is no national law that applies to the whole of Spain.

The regional regulations require staff ratios of between 0.30 and 0.50, i.e. one full-time worker for every two or three residents.  As the residences are services that are open 24 hours a day every day, this staff has to be distributed so that, in the end, the number of carers present is lower.  In addition, along with the "visible" staff, there are other staff such as kitchen, laundry or maintenance, which also count, although they go more unnoticed. 

The staff working in a care home can be divided into four groups:

Care assistants (gerocultoras o auxiliaries in Spanish): they are the ones who do the most important work, which consists of giving attention, care and support to the residents in their daily activities. From helping them to get up and move around if they need it, dressing, grooming, eating, etc.... They can also carry out maintenance tasks in the resident's own environment, such as making the bed, tidying their clothes and belongings, and other similar tasks.

Health professionals: here we have the nurse, who plays a key role in the care of the elderly; the doctor, the physiotherapist and the psychologist.

Social professionals: these are the social worker, the social educator and the occupational therapist.

Service or indirect care staff: cleaning, laundry, kitchen, maintenance and administration.

Just as almost all care homes have geriatric nurses and nurses and the vast majority have a doctor and physiotherapist, the rest of the professionals vary from one home to another, so it is worthwhile, when comparing care homes, to know who makes up the centre's professional team.

Here is how much nursing home workers are payed in Spain

With the current collective agreements, having a worker present 24 hours a day every day of the year means hiring slightly more than four people.  In short, out of every Euro that a care home earns, between 55 and 65 cents go to pay staff.

Some homes, want everyone who enters is aware of the size of the team of professionals, have started to reserve a wall in a busy place in the centre to hang portraits of all those who work there.  The surprise is often great for visitors and for the workers themselves.