New law

City and state at loggerheads over care home inspections

In future, Styrian care homes will only have to be inspected once a year. (symbolic image)

(Bild: stock.adobe.com - Peter Atkins)

According to the new Nursing and Care Act, the 229 nursing homes in Styria will only have to be inspected once a year in future. For the city of Graz, this is too infrequent - in the past, many homes were not inspected at all.

There are actually only a few meters between the city hall and the provincial parliament in the city centre of Graz - but in terms of real politics, the city and provincial governments are often worlds apart. Time and again, there are clashes between the two governments. At the moment, there is a fuss about the new Care and Assistance Act, which the provincial government has just sent for review.

33 care homes not inspected at all
The bone of contention is that, on the one hand, home supervision will be centralized at the state level and, on the other hand, home inspections will only take place once a year in future, instead of twice as before. "Even in the past, the legal regulations were often not complied with," says Graz City Councillor for Health Robert Krotzer (KPÖ), alluding to a response to an inquiry by Provincial Councillor Karlheinz Kornhäusl (ÖVP) to his parliamentary group, according to which not a single inspection took place in 33 of the 229 Styrian care homes in 2022 alone. "Only the official experts of the City of Graz carried out these inspections to the prescribed extent in each of the 20 privately operated homes," says Krotzer.

The KPÖ health and care councillor for Graz, Robert Krotzer.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

In future, however, this responsibility will no longer apply and only the state will carry out inspections. The state council office refers to a unanimous state parliament resolution from May 2022 (including the votes of the Communists) and the recommendation of the Federal Audit Office and the Patient and Care Ombudsman Board. "For me, the focus is on the well-being of residents and staff. I therefore see no reason why these recommendations and a joint motion by all parties represented in the state parliament should not be complied with," Kornhäusl clarifies. In addition, a reduction in quality due to a change in supervision, as suggested by the KPÖ, should be rejected.

Provincial Health Councillor Karlheinz Kornhäusl (ÖVP).

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

With regard to the state parliament resolution, however, Krotzer notes that this was preceded by a promise from the then State Councillor for Health, Juliane Bogner-Strauß, that a solution would be found together with the city. He therefore called on Kornhäusl once again to reconsider this step.

The Styrian patient and care ombudswoman Michaela Wlattnig.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

The patient and care ombudswoman has no concerns about the reduced checks. "Especially as this was also the recommendation of the Tannenhof Commission, of which I was a member," says head Michaela Wlattnig. "In other federal states, inspections are only required every two years, so one is completely sufficient. It's not about quantity, but about quality, for example when it comes to checking that defects have been rectified." She also points out that the wording "unannounced" will be added to the legal text for the first time.