Next SPÖ broadside

Criticism of “salary emperors” at the health agency

The State Health Agency in St. Pölten has come in for a lot of criticism since it was founded.

(Bild: Molnar Attila/Attila Molnar)

With his statements on the home-made shortage of doctors in Lower Austria, SPÖ leader Sven Hergovich has already earned himself a complaint from the state health agency. Now the self-proclaimed controlling state councillor is apparently working on the next one. It's all about money.

Unusually for Sven Hergovich, the Lower Austrian SPÖ leader began his latest comments on the "grievances in the healthcare system" with a heartfelt thank you to the management of the Provincial Health Agency (LGA). The agency had taken him to court for his public criticism - since then, the dissatisfied employees have known who they can turn to with their concerns, according to Hergovich.

Since then, the SPÖ has been in contact with several whistleblowers who have leaked internal information to the party. Hergovich made the first confidential content public on Monday. And he hits those responsible at the LGA where it hurts: namely their salaries. "Around 200 administrative staff at the St. Pölten headquarters earn as much or even more than a junior doctor," Hergovich asks a question that is also burning under the nails of medical staff in the country: "What for?" Because the hospitals actually manage themselves largely autonomously.

"More chiefs than Indians"
The Court of Audit had already identified massive shortcomings in the efficient use of taxpayers' money in 2021. At that time, 1.4 percent of the budget was left in the administration - a figure that, according to the SPÖ boss, has since increased to 2.1 percent. What's more: according to the internal source, 78 employees had a management function. With around 380 employees in total. Hergovich summarizes this moodily: "We will soon have more chiefs than Indians!"

Long waiting times for surgery appointments
Of course, the "redskin" Hergovich wants to change this: With a break-up of the LGA and a return to the old administrative system. Although the hospital holding company was not exactly known for its lean administration, "the new system will cost us at least 30 million euros more per year!" Money that would be better invested in local treatments. Since the LGA has been managing the agendas, things have not improved at all. Hergovich: "Waiting times for operations or MRI appointments are getting longer and longer, and the shortage of doctors and nurses is becoming more and more acute."

One value that the SPÖ leader uses to assess the precarious situation is the so-called self-care value. However you define it, Lower Austria is in second last place here - but the "bottom of the league" Burgenland is currently building two new hospitals, while Lower Austria is gradually closing wards.

Luxury salaries for the administration
But back to the money: according to Hergovich's informant, the average income of LGA employees at the head office is over the 100,000 euro mark. Those 78 "chiefs" earn an average of more than 140,000 euros a year - and therefore significantly more than an assistant doctor in one of the provincial hospitals. He is now preparing a question in the state parliament: "We want to know how the employees fill their many days off."

If we break up the provincial health agency, we would immediately save 30 million euros a year in administrative costs.

Sven Hergovich, SPÖ-Obmann in Niederösterreich

Bild: Krone KREATIV/Attila Molnar, Daniel Schalhas, zVg

The SPÖ leader already has a hunch: hospital staff are criticizing a significant increase in bureaucracy. "Doctors and nurses should look after patients and not fill out pointless checklists for the administration," says Hergovich. It is no wonder that many doctors in particular prefer to work in other federal states: "Higher salaries are paid in Vienna, Upper Austria, Burgenland and Styria."

No fear of further lawsuits
Hergovich is happy to accept the fact that his statements have once again put him in the legal sights of the LGA: "I will not be intimidated. The last lawsuit even had the opposite effect. We will continue to take a very close look at how our healthcare system is progressing under the Black-Blue government."

How the health agency reacted
After the SPÖ broadside, the LGA also spoke out, as expected: "First of all, it should be noted that the LGA was also founded in 2020 with the votes of the SPÖ," it said in a written statement. The health agency is also one of the best audited institutions in Austria. Therefore, no whistleblower is actually needed to obtain internal information. Furthermore: "As far as the salary structure is concerned, it should be noted that the LGA does not have its own salary structure, but is based on the national scheme."

The salary comparison made is therefore also "a comparison of apples and pears", as it is "inadmissible and transparent" to compare doctors in training with fully trained staff, the statement continues.

From the LGA statement

The structural adjustments in clinics mentioned above are not made for budgetary reasons, but due to changing framework conditions. This is also confirmed by Alexander Braun, Professor of Health Management at IMC Krems: he attributes the fact that hospital departments have recently been dissolved or merged less to savings than to a lack of staff: "A third of doctors will retire in the next ten years and we have the same problem with nursing staff." It will very likely become necessary to carry out "service bundling", says Braun. In future, it will no longer be possible to offer all medical services 24 hours a day, seven days a week due to the shortage of specialists. This is not about basic care, but about special medical focuses. The question is "do you need certain medical services in seven hospitals or can you focus them in one," says Braun.

What's more: "LGA's primary goal is to provide the best possible care for patients in cooperation with all employees - at the locations and also at the head office." Therefore, highly qualified and experienced employees are required, as well as people in training. Pay depends on qualifications, experience and the need for training.

An evaluation of the interaction between the LGA headquarters and the healthcare facilities is also currently underway. Initial results should be available when the health pact is presented. More than 50 experts are currently working on the so-called health pact - where, according to the LGA, SPÖ representatives are also involved. A spokesperson: "This will make medical care in Lower Austria fit for the future while maintaining our high quality standards."