2024-02-28 20:07:04
State Secretary Plakolm: SPÖ demand for a reduction in working hours increases the shortage of staff in the nursing sector
Vienna (PK) – The situation in Austria’s health and care system is getting significantly worse for patients, those in need of care and for all health and especially nursing staff, warns the SPÖ in a statement Urgent request with the title “End the nursing crisis, start a training offensive, improve working conditions: finally act, Mr. Chancellor!”, which is being published today National Council was introduced and debated. Closed wards, unoccupied beds and rosters that can hardly be created due to staff shortages have long been a “bitter reality” in Austria, which is why the Social Democrats are calling for a “real personnel offensive”.
Currently, around 10% of the total population in Austria would care for someone in need of care either at home or in inpatient facilities, although these numbers would continue to rise due to demographic developments. By 2050, an increase to 750,000 people in need of care is expected and therefore an additional need of around 200,000 carers. Politicians must “finally express openly what everyone in Austria has long felt.” The Austrian health system, which was previously “so much praised, is now crashing in more and more corners,” says the SPÖ. The Court of Auditors also confirmed the federal government’s “disaster” in the area of care, said SPÖ applicant Josef Muchitsch.
SPÖ calls for additional training positions and improved working conditions in nursing
Specifically, the Social Democrats are calling for a package of measures for a comprehensive nursing staff offensive in their motion, which remained in the minority in the vote. This should include, among other things, at least 3,000 additional training places, the federal government covering technical college tuition fees, a training salary based on the model of police students and the provision of a climate ticket for all trainees. There is also a need for a job guarantee after training has been completed, as well as improved working conditions – in particular through personnel requirements planning, roster security, a gradual reduction in working hours and a consistent additional week of vacation. Another demand concerns opening access to the hard work pension for nursing staff.
Health and nursing is a useful and exciting career field, but there is a lack of good working conditions. The black-green federal government owed a lot in this area. The few measures taken, such as bonuses that never ended up in the account to the extent promised, limited wage subsidies or a so-called “relief week” that did not apply to the majority of employees, were poorly implemented, the applicant criticized.
While, according to Muchitsch, the ÖVP’s only answer to the “care crisis” is to bring people from abroad, the FPÖ advocates tax relief for overtime for already overworked nursing staff. The key to overcoming the “care shortage” is to ensure sufficient staff. Instead of “fobbing off” nursing trainees with €600, the SPÖ mandater would like to take police trainees’ training salary of €2,300 as a model. What applies to public security must also apply to social security. In addition, the topic of care belongs in federal hands in order to end the “shifting back and forth” of responsibilities.
State Secretary Plakolm refers to the measures taken by the federal government so far
The SPÖ’s proposal denigrates care and stirs up fears, emphasized Claudia Plakolm, State Secretary for Youth, who represents the Chancellor. It is undisputed that care needs the full attention of politicians. However, the SPÖ’s demand to solve the shortage of nursing staff by reducing working hours has the opposite effect. Plakolm referred to the measures taken by the federal government in this area in recent years. For example, €570 million was spent on salary increases, an additional week of vacation from the age of 43, regardless of length of service, two extra hours of compensatory time for night shifts, a bonus for relatives from care level 4, a legal right to care leave for parents, etc nursing teaching was introduced. The Chancellor is also focusing on further measures, such as eliminating nostrification for states and universities that meet Austrian standards and recruiting returnees and skilled workers from abroad.
Health Minister Rauch: Without nursing staff from outside, there will be no appropriate care later
“We will not be able to recruit all the necessary forces from our own country,” so we will have to rely on recruiting them from third countries, Health Minister Johannes Rauch called for honesty in the debate. Austria is in competition with other EU countries. According to the Health Minister, there will be no appropriate care later without nursing staff from outside. There are not too few places in training, we have to encourage people to take up available places, emphasized Rauch. There is no need for a job guarantee because there is a desperate need for nursing staff. Rauch identified a need for improvement in the professional conditions and transition opportunities to other employment opportunities within the professional field. It is important to keep those who work in nursing in their profession.
SPÖ: Concrete measures instead of sugarcoating the current situation
For SPÖ club chairman Philip Kucher, instead of State Secretary Plakolm’s “glossing over” concrete measures are needed to improve nursing staff. About half of those working in nursing would consider changing jobs. Due to the lack of staff, operations would have to be postponed, and caring relatives would be “fobbed off” small amounts of money from the federal government. According to Kucher, the FPÖ is also “far away from the realities of the nurses’ lives.” Their only answer is more overtime for already overworked staff.
Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek (SPÖ) also recognized a financial imbalance between training in nursing professions and police trainees and called for attractiveness measures. In their eyes, a training offensive is necessary. Not only pay, but also service divisions and training tracks need to be improved in order to combat the nursing shortage.
For Christian Drobits (SPÖ), it was incomprehensible that nursing staff were not entitled to a hard-work pension despite the high physical and psychological stress. No party other than the SPÖ wants to change this. Drobits also warned that corporations could settle and enrich themselves in the care sector through the “back door”, which would counteract the focus on the common good.
ÖVP: Developments over the last few years are going in the right direction
ÖVP club chairman August Wöginger responded to the SPÖ criticism that he doesn’t believe in talking about a “care crisis”. This is negligent and leads to uncertainty. Wöginger also saw the need for more staff, but the development of the last few years was going in the “right direction”. He referred to the measures taken by the federal government in recent years, in which the SPÖ “was only moderately involved”. Instead, the Social Democrats would “talk sick” to the system and act with “false numbers”. The demand for a reduction in working hours would further exacerbate the labor shortage, criticized the ÖVP club chairman.
Martina Diesner-Wais (ÖVP) emphasized that the staff shortage is present in all areas of care. In order to counteract this, a package of measures is needed, she pointed out the nursing scholarship, nursing apprenticeships and school experiments, which will be incorporated into the regular system. In addition, nursing staff from abroad are needed.
ÖVP mandater Ernst Gödl didn’t want to sugarcoat anything, but emphasized that measures such as the introduction of nursing theory – which the SPÖ voted against – would provide a remedy. Steps demanded by the SPÖ, such as the assumption of technical college tuition fees, would also be at the discretion of the federal states and could already be implemented under social democratic state governors.
FPÖ: Application is self-accusation by the SPÖ
Since care is a state matter and the SPÖ has government responsibility in Vienna, for example, the urgent application is a “self-accusation,” emphasized Dagmar Belakowitsch (FPÖ). The SPÖ’s demands do not contain anything concrete. In addition, SPÖ social ministers have made access to the care levels more difficult. The FPÖ generally stands for tax-free overtime, but this is not an invitation to nursing staff to work overtime, said Belakowitsch in the direction of the SPÖ.
Broad criticism of failings in the care sector came from Christian Ragger (FPÖ). He complained that the problems were self-inflicted, including the failure to raise the care key, the academicization of care and the high documentation effort.
Peter Wurm (FPÖ) stated that nursing teaching was initiated by the Freedom Party and named a series of measures that, in his view, would counteract the personnel shortage. For example, not all nursing staff are “burnt out” and there is potential among retired nurses who could take on “one or two services per week”. Wurm saw the recruitment of nursing staff from abroad as merely postponing the problem into the future. Rosa Ecker (FPÖ) criticized what she saw as excessive bureaucracy in the care sector and that there was no central contact point where those affected could find out about the various care services.
Greens: SPÖ has slept for years
Bedrana Ribo (Greens) also pointed out that the SPÖ is in five state governments and is therefore “in control” of higher wages. The Green Party representative called for a serious discussion instead of “always shouting too little, too late”. According to Ribo, the current federal government has done more than any other to improve care. A wage increase or the additional week of relaxation demanded by the SPÖ have already been implemented. The SPÖ had been “sleeping” for years.
The nursing shortage and problems in nursing have been around for longer than this government, Markus Koza (Greens) countered the SPÖ and referred to the billion in nursing care achieved. Not everything is perfect, but numerous targeted measures have been taken to combat staff shortages and to improve working and income conditions, emphasized Koza.
NEOS: Real improvements instead of show politics
The SPÖ proposals are not new and would only contribute a small part to solving the problem, emphasized Fiona Fiedler (NEOS). The “snail’s pace” in care would also have started under SPÖ responsibility. Instead of “show politics” and “headlines”, “real” improvements and relief are needed so that nursing staff do not have to be the safety net in hospitals and nursing homes. Fiedler, for example, called for a nationwide uniform personnel ratio as well as measures for digitalization and reducing bureaucracy.
Gerald Loacker (NEOS) noted that some of the demands contained in the application have already been implemented and wanted to solve problems where they arise with reference to state competence. When it came to working hours, Loacker blamed the union for the lack of success in negotiations. The MP was convinced that there was a need for better development opportunities for nursing staff and criticized the complicated procedure for the red-white-red card. (Continuation of the National Council) med/gla/wit
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