Carrying out a procedure with Social Security has become a traumatic experience for many citizens, overwhelmed by weeks of delays in completing procedures related to pensions, the Minimum Vital Income, affiliations or sick leave. In many cases, essential charges for the economy of families that are dilated because of a “calamitous” citizen attention that has caused a collapse in the service.
Social Security, like other state and regional administrations, has taken advantage of the pandemic to speed up digitization. In other words, prioritizing the relationship with the citizen through the Internet to the detriment of face-to-face care. Due, carrying out any procedure has become an agonizing process for many citizens, especially at the headquarters of the National Institute of Social Security, next to the plaza de los patines, where face-to-face and telephone attention is advertised, which in practice has been reduced to the bare minimum.
“It’s a disaster. Nobody answers you by phone, but you can’t make an appointment online either. I already came on Thursday, but the thirty numbers ran out and I had to come again. And I can’t come every day to waste time so that they don’t even attend to you”, regrets Eulalia Fernandez. “I have had covid and I have not been able to work, I need them to process my registration and discharge. But it is an ordeal,” he stresses.
Minutes before 09:00 last Friday, Fernández and dozens of people lined up at the headquarters of the National Institute of Social Security. It is a common sight in recent weeks, and as the opening time of the doors approaches, the line of citizens already turns the corner. Only the first thirty will be able to receive face-to-face attention -those who have gotten up the earliest-, graced with the number distributed by a security worker.
This headquarters processes essential benefits for many families such as pensions and the Minimum Vital Income. “I have a son with a disability and twenty days ago we received a paper about a problem with a help he received. We come to have it explained to us, but we have been trying for twenty days. They tell me to try going online at dawn to make an appointment and maybe I’ll be lucky, it’s a shame“, indicates Lourdes Coello.
It is more likely to get an appointment at dawn —via telematics or telephone— because Social Security releases them after midnight. “I come with my father because they have given him Spanish nationality and we have to do something as simple as changing the NIE for the DNI. But I’ve been trying for two weeks to get an appointment at different times, by phone and by Internet, but there is no way. But, beware, it is an appointment to be called by phone, not to solve the problem at that moment,” says Ana Ruiz, who hopes to be one of the lucky ones who manages to be attended by an official.
“I don’t know how to use the Internet”
María Serrano is in line because her daughter has stopped receiving the orphan’s pension and she does not know why. “I came a few days ago and they didn’t give me a number because they told me I needed a piece of paper, that I could do it online. But I don’t have. And if I had it, I wouldn’t know how to use it either.” says this woman. “Let’s see what they tell me today because I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s a small payment, but he needs it,” he says.
“I am going to affiliate my daughter to request her health card. But I have been trying since December. I thought that it was being more difficult because of the parties, and that I was very stupid managing the Internet, but no.”, laments Jeni Mateo, who is also waiting for a number to start a procedure that she does not know when she will be able to complete.
“You have work and things to do. And if you’re missing a piece of paper, they don’t give you priority to bring it, you have to go back to the queue and start the process all over again,” he says.
This situation has been repeated every morning for weeks before the headquarters of the National Institute of Palma, but as this newspaper has learnedor the problems in serving citizens are reproduced in the delegations that Social Security has in Inca, Manacor and Llucmajor.
Government Delegation: “It is necessary to increase templates”
The Government Delegation in the Balearic Islands assumes that there is a shortage of human resources both in Social Security and in other State administrations. «We are aware of the need to increase the workforce to optimize resources. Precisely, it is trying to promote telematic attention to take pressure off the face-to-face or telephone channel,” indicated from the department headed by Aina Calvo about the collapse at the headquarters of the National Institute of Social Security in Palma. “There are public employment offers planned to incorporate personnel in the different State administrations,” they stressed.
At the headquarters of the General Treasury, located on La Rambla, service is almost exclusively via the Internet but, according to the Government Delegation, in this case there are no problems because the procedures are aimed at companies and freelancers accustomed to dealing with digital platforms. “The telematic route is promoted, but it is not imposed,” they pointed out.