According to data sent to the Lusa agency, the seven closures took place in the months of December 2023, January, February, and March 2024, with this last month being the one with the highest number.

“In the indicated period, there were seven urgent closures: two in December, one in January, and four in March,” said the ISS.

According to the Social Security Institute, an urgent closure occurs “whenever there is an imminent danger to the lives of users”.

In addition to these seven residential structures for the elderly (ERPI), more commonly known as retirement homes, the ISS ordered the administrative closure of another 36 facilities, for reasons related to “lack of conditions of installation, operation, safety, health, hygiene, and comfort, which jeopardized the rights of users and their well-being”.

In total, 43 nursing homes were closed, the majority (21) in December last year, subsequently recording four closures in January 2024, nine in February, and the same number in March.

These closures follow 246 inspection actions, more than half of which (128) were carried out in December.

In January, the number of inspections dropped to 21, increasing the following month to 40 and in March to 54 inspection actions.

The ISS also states that, following these inspection actions, 94 unlicensed homes were detected, which were ordered closed.