Between safety and isolation: the governmental-ministerial approach to care homes in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of statements issued by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy, relating to care homes and the threat to the health and lives of their inhabitants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the declared intention by the government to carry out the transition from residential care to community-based support, the results of the study reveal that under the slogans of care, safety, and commitment, the traditional vision of disability that promotes the operation of segregated institutions is reinforced. Ensuring safety is understood as strengthening the institution of a care home by emphasizing its importance, allocating additional resources, and introducing organized isolation practices that do not necessarily account for subjectivity and residents’ rights. The authors, using the critical approach, point to elements of the discourse that may be remembered most by recipients.

Points of interest

• The paper is focused on an approach presented by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding care homes.

• While the discussion about transition from residential care to community-based support in Poland seems to be advanced, there are still facilities for over 100 inhabitants.

• In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the Ministry’s communication related to facilitating the transition to independent living was pushed aside, while the traditional institutional-oriented approach came to the fore.

• The communication by the Ministry is transmitting to the public a strong message that presents care homes as safe places that should be supported and developed as a key housing option.

• The lack of attention to issues such as transition from residential care to community-based support and a human-rights approach in communication led us to formulate the concept of a turbo-institutional approach implicit in the Ministry’s communiques.

Keywords:

• Critical disability studies
• critical discourse studies
• deinstitutionalisation
• care homes
• COVID-19 pandemic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.