Abuses uncovered

Dubious conditions in Salzburg’s retirement homes

A lot is going wrong in the city's retirement homes.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Alarming details about the abuses in retirement homes in Salzburg continue to emerge. For example, incorrectly recorded funds led to the inspection office even alleging a lack of transparency in its report.

The scandal surrounding Salzburg's retirement homes is spreading. As exclusively reported by the "Krone" newspaper, a report by the Audit Office reveals massive deficiencies in financial management. For example, the city's budget for 2016 and 2019 understated expenditure by €260,000. In addition, this expenditure was then labeled as a subsidy. The Audit Office clearly found a lack of transparency.

Fewer staff
As already reported, even a savings book with income from an event is missing. There have also been major shifts in personnel: While 104 qualified nurses were still employed in 2017, there were only 69 at the end of 2022. This contrasts with an increase in assistant staff from 281 to 323.

"Unbelievable conditions"
The inspection of retirement homes goes back to a motion by the city's Freedom Party in 2018 and a motion by the Green Citizens' List in 2021. The city boss of the "Blue" party, Paul Dürnberger, says: "The audit report brings to light unbelievable conditions that show a massive failure on the part of the city's SPÖ." The audit report will be debated in the Audit Committee on Monday.