Local Daily News 30th January
Permanent disability requests increase by 30% and Social Security rejects 70%
The National Institute of Social Security (INSS) is applying a very restrictive policy in the granting of permanent disabilities in the workplace. Last year approximately 70% of the demands of this type raised by workers were denied in the province of Alicante. It is a similar figure to the whole of Spain and represents a slight decrease compared to the applications approved by the INSS in 2021.
Experts in Social Law and Labor Law attribute it to a systematic and limiting line established in recent years by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations. Among professionals specialised in litigating with the Public Administration for this type of case, there is a feeling that Social Security “automatically” rejects eight out of ten requests for permanent disability that are submitted to it. Four of the applicants accept the opinion without further ado and of the other four, two appeal through administrative channels and accept the resolution, whether it is favourable or unfavourable, and only two choose to take legal action before the Social Courts.
However, as a result of the pandemic, permanent disability claims have increased by 30% due to the skyrocketing of pathologies due to mental health illnesses such as depression and chronic anxieties, persistent covid and injuries that have been aggravated by the virus. And lawsuits have also grown in the same proportion.
In the year 2000 the total number of permanent disabilities in the province of Alicante stood at 22,668 and in 2021 they fell to 22,129. Two decades later, specifically in September 2022 and according to official data from the summary of Social Protection benefits, 23,151 Alicante men and women had recognized permanent disability. This figure has risen to 23,230 people as of January 1, 2023. Based on these data, the number of permanent work disabilities has increased by 562 cases in the last 22 years. But for the experts it is a “misleading proportion” due to demographic evolution, the increase in the active population and life expectancy together with the advancement of Occupational Medicine.
Any chronic pathology that reduces the work capacity of a worker may be subject to a claim before the INSS so that a permanent disability is recognized. The loss of a finger, for example. But you have to differentiate between the total and the absolute because with the first the benefit remains at 55% in general while in the second 100% is charged.
Total disability is granted when a worker, due to illness or injury, cannot continue to carry out his usual work but others can. With this degree of permanent work incapacity, one is entitled to a monthly pension of 55% of the regulatory base because, precisely, its purpose is for the pensioner to be able to combine their situation with the exercise of a job compatible with their ailments, and thus complement their income.
But in the case of the absolute disability pension, the monthly benefit already amounts to 100% of the regulatory base, something that is due to the fact that it is considered that this person cannot carry out any type of work with a minimum of performance, efficiency and professionalism.
However, there are exceptions because absolute disability may be compatible with some protected or highly adapted jobs; or even with the fact of opening a business where the pensioner only has ownership and there are other workers who are in charge of the work of the company.
Around 35 people have had to be treated in a mountain bike race in Calp after presenting symptoms of hypothermia.
Low temperatures and rain have meant that several of the participants have had to receive medical assistance. The minimum for Sunday’s day was 5 degrees in the town of Marina Alta, while the maximum was 10, according to data from the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).
The 112 has mobilised the Basic Life Support (SVB) ambulance of the Red Cross emergency team, which has had to go to the place of the mountain bike race, in which more than 1,000 runners have participated, as confirmed by the Red Cross.
The joint device has resulted in the assistance of about 35 people due to hypothermia, four of them have been treated by the Red Cross. In addition, 20 blankets have been delivered to the cyclists who were reaching the finish line.
Members of the Calp Local Police, Civil Protection, another SVB ambulance from the Generalitat and the Civil Guard have been transferred to the place.
Arrested in Orihuela for robbing a citrus truck with knives to steal 3,000 euros
The National Police arrested two people, a man and a woman, in Orihuela for assaulting the driver of a citrus truck with knives to steal the money he was carrying.
The injured party filed a complaint at the police station in the capital of Vega Baja where he explained that when he was going with his truck to collect citrus fruits, at the height of the Hurchillo highway, a car was placed at his height and began to give him the lights, that although he did not pay attention to it, this vehicle continued to behave abnormally until, at a roundabout, it moved in front of the truck, blocking its path.
A man and a woman got out of the car and took two knives out of the trunk and approached the cab of the truck, opening the door and intimidating the victim until they managed to steal an envelope with more than 3,000 euros that he was carrying to pay for the fruit he was going to buy and a mobile phone. In the struggle, the complainant was injured in the hands.
Apparently the attacker had previously worked in the same company as the injured party. Agents of the Judicial Police Brigade of the Orihuela Police Station quickly began the investigations and by pulling that thread they managed to fully identify the two alleged perpetrators of the assault. Those who were arrested a few days later, charging them with an alleged robbery with violence.
The detainees of Moroccan nationality, aged 52 and 30, were made available to the Investigating Court of Alicante.
Orihuela joins the Territory Agency to prosecute urban illegalities
The plenary session has given the green light to the adhesion of Orihuela to the Valencian Agency for the Protection of the Territory, for which reason it delegates to this body of the Council the powers of the City Council in terms of urban discipline and sanctions for illegal constructions on undeveloped, common and protected, of the municipality.
Regarding serious or very serious infractions committed before the date of publication of this adhesion agreement, the Agency will have the power to initiate, process and resolve the corresponding procedure for restoration of urban legality in the event that it has not been carried out by the municipal administration.
The government team had raised a proposal that finally had to be withdrawn due to lack of support. PSOE and Ciudadanos have ended up voting in favour of the Cambiemos proposal that went in the same direction, which has had the abstention of the PP and the vote against Vox.
Already in the plenary session of December, the bipartisan had to do the same despite the fact that the corporation assumed that it would have an absolute majority to carry out the adhesion in the press conference prior to the plenary session.
However, the deputy mayor and town planning councilor, José Aix, has considered that this initiative will allow the area he directs to be decongested, as well as “having more guarantees and less subjective charges”. Immediately afterwards, he has puffed up his chest: “No one in the Urban Planning Department has been more demanding in protecting the territory”, pulling data regarding the number of infractions imposed and money collected since he was in charge of Urban Planning in 2019.
The main municipalities of the Vega Baja have not joined this autonomous body of the Generalitat to stop illegal construction, which has been based in Elche since March last year. Since its creation in 2019, more than 200 town halls throughout the Valencian Community have joined to delegate their powers in inspection and urban surveillance on undeveloped land.
However, only 11 of the 27 municipalities have done so, 40% of the region, despite the fact that urban violations bulge numerous files, both on the coast and in the interior: Albatera, Algorfa, Catral, Daya Nueva, Daya Vieja , Dolores, Guardamar del Segura, Jacarilla, Los Montesinos, Rafal and San Miguel de Salinas. All of them governed by the PSOE, with the exception of Albatera (PP).
The third time’s lucky. The plenary body has also approved, with the votes in favour of PSOE, Ciudadanos and Cambiemos, the abstention of the PP and against Vox, the adhesion of the municipality to the Network of Local Offices for Housing, Rehabilitation and Urban Regeneration (Xaloc), a proposal that already reached the plenary in October 2021 and in September 2022. This time, the agreement will mean the opening of a housing office in Orihuela that will provide the one-stop service for advice on housing, urban regeneration and rehabilitation of buildings. The expenses will be financed through a subsidy from the Generalitat of 243,320 euros.
However, it is still pending to know the location and the availability of personnel, the two points that made it impossible to approve it on previous occasions.
35 cyclists were treated for hypothermia in a mountain race in Calp
The Ministry of Health expands the Torrevieja Hospital with 20 new individual rooms
The Minister of Health, Miguel Mínguez, visited the University Hospital of Torrevieja this Friday to see first-hand the expansion of the centre, which has 20 new individual rooms. Upon his arrival, he has been received amidst the demands of the laboratory staff, who demand that they be subrogated from the Ministry, as has been done in other cases after the rescue by the private management of Ribera, when this company concluded its contract with the Generalitat. In addition, several patients have gathered at the front door to denounce negligence.
The minister stressed that “the new hospitalisation rooms increase the capacity of the centre and, in addition, represent a qualitative leap in the well-being of both the patients and their families”, at the same time that he qualified that “it is not possible to open a surface that conditions an increase in health care without human resources”, although it has not specified the number of contracts.
In this sense, the manager of the Torrevieja Health Department, José Cano, has stressed that the vacancies are not being covered due to the shortage of professionals. All in all, he added, “in the last four months we have incorporated 33 new positions for doctors in the area of hospitalisation and Primary Care”.
At this point, Mínguez has highlighted that the Consell has approved this Friday a decree that regulates the occupation of places that are difficult to cover, which includes incentives, labour and remuneration -of up to 10,000 euros a year-, something that “will mean an opportunity for centres like this one”, stated the minister.
Regarding the waiting times in the ER, one of the most repeated complaints by users and also by unions, who have come to denounce delays of between 10 and up to 18 hours at peak times, Cano has assured that it is two hours and 20 minutes on average.
In addition, he has stated that the long waits at peak hours of care pressure in this service is a problem at the national level that is aggravated in this department due to the characteristics of the population, such as the high age and a significant number of patients who speak another language. . For his improvement, he recalled that shifts have been established so that there are seven doctors from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and five from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.
At the proposal of Cambiemos, with the support of the PSOE -PP, Ciudadanos and Vox have abstained-, the session has given the green light to the creation of a municipal land and housing society to implement public policies in urban matters to energise land use, improve access to housing, improve degraded areas and contain sale or rental prices. Its objective is the management of social rentals, housing promotion and premises for local commerce.