80 percent too few

Automatically saved draft

There are longer waiting times until the October rotation is trained. There is also a shortage of personnel at the Red Cross.

(Bild: P. Huber)

Patients currently have to wait a long time for ambulance transports because there is a shortage of personnel at local blue light organizations - at least until the next rotation is trained. The Arbeiter Samariterbund has only four civilian volunteers left from the April rotation out of a total of 19, as Head of Division Michael Gruber explains. 

October is not a good time for patients who need ambulance transport: "As in previous years, there will be waiting times of several hours for ambulance transports," warns Michael Gruber, Head of Rescue Services at the Upper Austrian Workers' Samaritan Federation (ASB). "So far, we haven't had to cancel any journeys, and we haven't had any waiting times of six hours like last year - but sometimes there's not much to it." Normally, patients have to wait between 90 minutes and three hours.

A maximum of 200 trips a day
As this problem had already become apparent, the rescue service informed customers, hospitals, care homes and doctors in advance. On average, the three ASB bases in Linz, Alkoven and Feldkirchen handle around 140 to 170 patient transports per day, not including emergencies. To do this, ASB would need 20 to 25 civilian volunteers per call-up.

Only four of the 19 civilians who joined in April remained at ASB

(Bild: Werner Kerschbaummayr/TEAM FOTOKERSCHI / GABRIEL & JURANEK)

Only just under a fifth left
And that is precisely where the problem lies: "Only four of the 19 civilian servants from this year's April rotation remained, all the others either didn't complete their training or left. We would have needed 20," says Gruber. The April and June rotations would now have to take on the full workload, as the January rotation has been disarmed, at least until the October rotation has completed its training.

Lack of motivation in the April cycle
"In April, we usually have school drop-outs and apprentices who are unfortunately much less motivated than the school leavers in October," complains the division manager. "However, we have not yet received any negative feedback from medical facilities or patients." The Red Cross is also aware of the problem: 30 percent of the 125 civilian servants who joined in April did not pass the paramedic exam.