Nurses before recognition as a heavy worker: an important reform step!

Nurses before recognition as a heavy worker: an important reform step!

In a remarkable development, the Ministry of Social Affairs plans to accept nursing staff in the heavy work ordinance. Minister of Social Affairs Korinna Schumann has announced that there will be a comprehensive examination of the existing regulations. This initiative is intended to improve working conditions for nursing staff and related professional groups, which are faced with high physical and psychological stress. These professional groups include paramedics, hospital doctors and employees in mobile services. These demands are not new. Various people and institutions have already pointed out the insufficient consideration of the stresses in the health sector.

A new regulation is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2026. Among other things, this provides that nurses with at least 45 years of insurance and at least ten years of heavy work can retire in the past 20 years at the age of 60. To support this reform, 40 million euros are planned in the budget. The union of private employees also calls for solutions for all supervisors, including those in disability aid, mobile services and child and youth welfare, and recognizes that many professional groups are highly burdened by their work.

high loads in the health sector

The stress for healthcare employees are often enormous. According to the working atmosphere index, 60 % of the care workers feel heavily burdened. This is directly related to the high pressure, lack of staff and the challenges of shift work. The current heavy work regulation also disadvantages the healthcare system, and there are individual decisions of pension insurance to recognize heavy working hours that can have far -reaching consequences.

The new government coalition, consisting of ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS, is planning a reform for the official recognition of nursing staff as heavy workers: inside. This reform has already been outlined in the government program, which is to be presented on February 27. The unions in the health sector, such as the Göd Health Union and Younion-Team Health, have required this initiative for a long time. The decision to involve nursing professions in the heavy work regulation is considered an important step for a better working environment.

A central point of the discussion is the calculation of the difficult working hours based on the hour to ensure a fair evaluation of all health professions. In November 2023, the Carinthian state parliament unanimously approved the application to recognize all professional groups in the medical-technical service, which represents further progress in this topic.

future challenges

The forecasts show that around 70,000 additional caregivers will be needed by 2050. In view of this, the legal recognition of nursing professions as difficult work is not only a step in the right direction, but also of crucial importance in order to address the existing challenges in healthcare.

Herwig Seiser from the Carinthian SPÖ emphasizes the importance of this reform for long -term nursing staff, while Edgar Martin von Younion - Team Health sees the redesign of the heavy work regulation as a significant stage victory. In view of the fact that 29 % of the nursing staff under 35 no longer want to practice their job, it is essential to create attractive framework conditions.

With these planned measures, you will not only expect better recognition and appreciation of the nursing professions, but also an incentive to make the profession in healthcare more attractive in the long term.

The developments in this area are still being followed carefully, and it remains to be seen to what extent these reforms can actually be implemented.

For more information, read more at vienna.at or at Neuezezeit.at .