Nursing crisis in Upper Austria: urgently wanted specialists for the future!

Nursing crisis in Upper Austria: urgently wanted specialists for the future!

Oberösterreich, Österreich - More and more people in Austria are dependent on care. There are currently 456,000 people, which corresponds to more than the residents of Vorarlberg. The need for care services will increase drastically in the coming years, and forecasts show that around 750,000 people will need appropriate support by 2050. As a result, around 40,000 specialists in the area of long-term care are required to meet the increasing requirements, such as Kontrast.at

In Upper Austria, around 80,000 people are currently dependent on care, and fears that this number could increase to over 100,000 in the next 15 years. Mobile nursing services are becoming increasingly important because many people prefer care in their own four walls. Around 14,000 people in need of care are currently supported by the Red Cross by over 750 employees. Since many nurses will retire in the next few years, new staff are urgently being sought for mobile care. There are currently more than 50 vacancies, such as orf.at reported.

challenges and solutions in nursing care

Especially in rural areas there are challenges in nursing care, since there are often no central contact points that coordinate help or provide information. Relatives of those in need of care usually have to take care of support themselves. The SPÖ has therefore requested care reserves positions to act as central contact points for those in need of care and their relatives. A legal right to care cartoon is also planned so that caring relatives can combine their tasks more easily with the job.

The financing of nursing is also a hotly discussed topic. Around 5.7 billion euros are spent on care services in Austria every year. The state bears about 5 billion of it; The rest must be financed privately. Nursing insurance is discussed as a possible solution, but it is feared that this in particular could put on unilaterally burden on the employees. Alternatively, a nursing fund is proposed to secure funding through public funds and to improve care in Austria.