The focus: Red Cross calls for recognition for paramedics!

The focus: Red Cross calls for recognition for paramedics!

On April 23, 2025, the federal government made a significant decision that will have a lasting impact on the lives of many nurses. Nurses are to be included in the heavy work ordinance in accordance with the new regulation that comes into force on January 1, 2026. This was announced by Health and Social Affairs Minister Korinna Schumann and ÖVP club chairman August Wöginger in a press conference.

In particular, access to the heavy work pension should benefit from this measure, which is facilitated for nursing staff. In the future, nursing staff who have at least 45 years of insurance and have investigated at least ten years of difficult work in the past 20 years will retire at the age of 60. Schumann assumes that every second person who retires will benefit from this regulation.

loads in the emergency services

Gerald Schöpfer, President of the Red Cross, also demands that paramedics are also included in the regulation. He emphasizes that the physical and psychological stress that occurs in the emergency services is often underestimated. The Red Cross actively supports this claim with a petition.

The new regulations aim to create a more comprehensive understanding of the various stresses in the healthcare system. While so far, so far, physical burdens in the categories of heavy work have been fell into the consideration of mental stress and multiple pollution. This aims to improve the hours and services for nursing staff.

Financial aspects and grants

The Federal Government provides a budget of 40 million euros for the implementation of this measure. The changes and the consideration of paramedics are part of a more comprehensive endeavor to improve working conditions in health and social affairs and to increase recognition for the often hard work of the employees. In order to optimize the weighting of the criteria for heavy work, objective standards are introduced that should apply to all professional groups.

Overall, this step is regarded as a significant improvement in the framework conditions for nursing staff who play an essential role in society. vienna.at reports that this is only the first step in a longer-term process that is aimed at further reforming the working conditions and reducing the stress that shape the profession.

The measures are part of a wider health reform and aim to increase the attractiveness of professions in healthcare. However, it remains to be seen how the response to the demands of Creator and the implementation of the new regulations will look in detail.

For current information and further details, it is advisable to find the official announcements of the Ministry of Social Affairs, to find under Social Ministry.GV.at .