Vienna's healthcare system under pressure: Doctors demand immediate reforms!

Vienna's healthcare system under pressure: Doctors demand immediate reforms!

On April 23, 2025, the meeting of the Vienna City Council was interrupted at 4 p.m. to discuss an urgent request from the Greens to City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker. Mag. Barbara Huemer, representative of the Green Party, expressed concern about the “critical state” of Vienna’s healthcare system, in particular the long waiting times for planned operations. Despite the ongoing problem, no noticeable improvements have been observed in the last five years.

Huemer pointed out that patients often face last-minute appointment rescheduling, which causes both physical and emotional pressure. She paid particular attention to child and adolescent psychiatry, where affected children are increasingly left alone. She criticized the “band-aid solutions” that do not contribute to the structural reform of the system and denounced the outsourcing of operations to private hospitals. Questions about the personnel situation and the available capacities in public institutions remained unanswered.

The answer from the city councilor for health

City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker stated that he was taking the current challenges in the Vienna Health Association (WIGEV) seriously. Hacker described the health system as “ready for reform and forward-looking,” despite the existing shortage of skilled workers. A central measure is the re-application of the cooperation model with private hospitals in order to free up capacity in public hospitals.

This cooperation with private clinics is intended to efficiently reduce waiting times for planned operations. According to Hacker, financing is secured via the performance-related hospital financing system (LKF). In addition, personnel offensives and a training offensive in the nursing professions are intended to strengthen staffing levels and thus further reduce waiting times.

Cooperation with private clinics

In order to minimize the burden on public hospitals, WIGEV cooperates with the PremiQaMed private clinics to outsource planned procedures. This cooperation was already successful during the COVID pandemic. In 2024, around 44% of all operations were performed acutely, which affects the waiting time for planned procedures.

The goal of the cooperation is to increase the speed of treatment and improve patient care. In order to achieve this, planned operations are carried out in the private clinics Confraternität and Goldenes Kreuz. The main subjects of these procedures include orthopedics, general surgery and urology. Over the last few years, over 2,400 planned operations have been transferred from WIGEV clinics to private hospitals in order to ensure relief as needed.

Patients in the PremiQaMed private clinics receive comprehensive care, from making an appointment through preparation to aftercare. Postoperative care is also ensured by the WIGEV.

Future perspectives

Hacker also announced new concepts for day outpatient centers, the project start of which is scheduled for 2026 and completion in 2028. Long-term recruitment and retention strategies are also planned, including 4,400 training places in the nursing sector. The success of the international skilled workers program “#Nurses4Vienna” is seen as promising, and the first skilled workers from third countries are already expected.

The WIGEV currently records a full-time equivalent of 12,559 in the nursing sector and 1,850 doctors. Despite the challenges in the system, Hacker emphasized that Vienna performs well in national comparison when it comes to operating room waiting times and that over 140,000 operations are carried out in the WIGEV clinics every year.