Caritas, Diakonie, relief organization, Red Cross & Volkshilfe are focusing on care and support in the pre-election campaign and are presenting central demands for a necessary system reform.
Vienna (OTS) – In the last two years, the federal government has introduced many reform measures in nursing and care, which are fundamentally to be welcomed. From a structural perspective, however, the nursing and care landscape across Austria continues to be characterized by hurdles and system limits, the shortage of skilled workers is already limiting the supply of care and the already noticeable dynamics of demographic development require immediate action.
Caritas, Diakonie, relief organization, Red Cross and Volkshilfe have come together in the Federal Working Group for Free Welfare (BAG) – together they represent the majority of non-profit care and support services in Austria. Anna Parr, current chairwoman of the BAG and general secretary of Caritas Austria: “Based on our expertise and experience, we have developed a position paper in a joint process with 61 measures in five chapters to ensure a good future for our care and support system. The measures that have already been initiated must be secured and expanded. But beyond that, bold innovative steps are also needed to achieve comprehensive structural reform.”
The necessary measures for a system reform in care and support are now on the table – this must focus centrally on the areas of personnel, care structures, people in need of care and their relatives, organization/financing/digitalization and the federal care allowance. Those responsible at the federal and state levels thus have the necessary basis to start the system reform.
Caritas on demands in the personnel area: People must be the focus
Anna Parr, Secretary General of Caritas Austria: “By 2030, we will be short of up to 3,000 additional nursing staff in Austria each year. Only through targeted recruitment of new staff and the retention and retention of existing staff can it be possible to secure and expand the area of care and support in the long term. This means that the system reform we are calling for must clearly, firstly, focus on training and personnel recruitment and, secondly, create better framework conditions for working people. Nursing and care is a very beautiful and important professional field – the people who work in it deserve to have good conditions for their valuable work.” In addition, Austria must also become more attractive to carers from other countries – in addition to an overall federal strategy, this requires a corresponding one Welcoming culture for international skilled workers.
Volkshilfe on the demands in the area of supply landscape and offers
Erich Fenninger, Director of Volkshilfe Austria: “We have to build the supply landscape around people’s needs. There must be a guarantee that all people living in Austria get the offer that suits them. The most effective way to do this is to massively expand a variety of nursing and care services and forms of housing and care. And this must be financed and organized across the board. There are many pilot projects, approaches and partial solutions, action must now be taken.”
Diakonie on the demands in the area of care allowance and strengthening prevention and health promotion
“We are getting older – but are we also getting older healthily?” asks Diakonie Director Maria Katharina Moser. “If we want to meet the challenges, we need a radical care reform – a reform that gets to the roots of the problem. And this essentially includes health promotion and prevention. These are not taken into account in the current care system. Care, as it is currently thought of, organized and financed in Austria, only focuses on compensating for deficits. And it is narrowed down to medical and hygiene issues. This is clear from the care allowance: you get care allowance when restrictions are evident and the ability to care for yourself has been lost to a significant degree.
In order to further develop the care allowance, the BAG calls, among other things, for health promotion, resource-preserving and resource-activating care, as well as the needs of social participation and measures against loneliness to be taken into account. There is also a need for optimization in assessment and correct classification.
Red Cross on the demands in the area of people in need of care and care and their relatives
Michael Opriesnig, Secretary General of the Austrian Red Cross: “Nursing relatives are the ‘largest nursing service in the country’. Almost a million people in Austria take on care tasks. Home care is the most expensive form of care for affected families. Due to inflation and declining purchasing power, people are often at risk of falling into poverty. Support must be further expanded, not only financially, but also additional offers for exchange and self-help in order to ensure that people in need of care are cared for by relatives.”
Aid organization: More investment, effective control and aggressive digitalization are needed!
“The financial equalization for the years 2024 to 2028 is aimed at financially securing existing measures as well as those from the care reform packages. What is positive is that it takes into account demographic developments and refrains from setting unrealistic restrictions on spending paths, as was the case in the past and was also criticized by the Court of Auditors,” says Elisabeth Anselm, Managing Director of the Austrian Relief Organization. “It is critical to see that the financial equalization does not provide any relevant scope for additional, urgently needed reform steps, for example for the further development of the care landscape and the working conditions of nursing and care workers, but also for innovation and digitalization,” complains Anselm. The relief organization’s managing director is convinced that without a targeted expansion of public investments and intelligent management, the growing need will not be adequately met. Anselm brings comparisons: “The total public spending on care and support in Austria is 1.1 percent of GDP. The OECD average is 1.7 percent. The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are over 3 percent, Germany is 1.5 percent.* “In the next legislative period, the nursing development commission made up of federal, state and local authorities must urgently deal with care goals and concepts as well as personnel strategies in order to ensure an intelligent development of the Anselm demands that the system be achieved despite the fragmentation of competences. “And we have to invest in digitalization and innovation in order to bring more continuity and security, but above all to bring more efficiency and relief to the system,” concludes Anselm.
*Quelle: OECD Health Working Papers No. 121, 2020
Download the position paper of the Federal Working Group on Free Welfare: Key demands for further reform steps in the area of care and support are:
Questions & Contact:
Federal Working Group on Free Welfare
Tina Neuerthal
Head of Public Relations & Press Spokesperson for Caritas Austria
+43 676 7804589
tina. newertal@caritas-austria.at
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