By the year 2050

Another 200,000 people needed in the care sector

(Bild: APA/Barbara Gindl)

Around 200,000 additional people will be needed in the care sector by 2050. This is the conclusion reached by Gesundheit Österreich. If the number of completed training courses is taken into account, this results in a gap of around 2,000 to 3,000 people per year.

Retirements and demographic trends have been factored into the requirement. Possible emigration or redundancies were not taken into account, however, as there is too little data available. The Health Austria study covers staff in hospitals including rehabilitation facilities and staff in inpatient, semi-inpatient and mobile long-term care. It shows that an additional 196,500 people will be needed in the care sector by 2050. If we focus only on nursing staff in the narrower sense (e.g. qualified healthcare and nursing staff), between 5,000 and 5,900 more people will be needed each year until 2030 to cover the demand.

Here you can see a chart showing the need for nursing staff in the coming decades.

5100 trained nurses per year
On the other hand, an average of 5100 people are currently being trained each year. However, it should be borne in mind that only around 80 percent actually enter the profession, said Brigitte Juraszovich, Deputy Head of the Healthcare Department at Gesundheit Österreich (GÖG).

Incentives include more family-friendly working hours, a daily workload that is easier to manage and stable duty rosters.

Reinhard Waldhör, Vorsitzender der GÖD-Gesundheitsgewerkschaft

In order to attract and retain more staff, the authors of the study recommend subsidies for training, the recruitment of international nursing staff, more administrative staff and generally better working conditions. "These include more family-friendly working hours, a daily workload that is easier to manage and stable duty rosters. Recognizing nursing care as hard work is also an important measure for valuing professionals," said Reinhard Waldhör, Chairman of the GÖD health trade union, in a press release.

More time for relationship work
Volkshilfe also called for easier access to the heavy labor pension on Wednesday. It also pointed out that more time was actually needed for relationship work in care and support and more time for team meetings. This is not even included in the new figures.