"Community nurses"

Important nursing support: many communities are dropping out

"Community nurses provide important guidance on care issues.

(Bild: Diakoniewerk)

Community nurses have recently provided valuable care in many communities. From January, local authorities will have to help pay if they want to keep the service - but now many are dropping out. The Greens see their fears confirmed. 

Another decision of the old ÖVP-SPÖ provincial government was to put the financing of "community nurses" on a new footing. This unwieldy term refers to nursing staff who visit and advise families in local communities, primarily with a preventative approach. The feedback has been very positive, with many mayors raving about this care service.

The EU-funded pilot project expires at the end of the year. The future was uncertain for a long time, but a solution was found in October: the state is providing two million euros for the year 2025, but the municipalities must also pay and cover 40 percent of the costs. At the time, it was feared that many municipalities would not be able to raise the money - this has now actually happened.

13 municipalities dropped out
13 projects in 19 municipalities have been submitted to the responsible department for 2025, compared to 20 projects in 32 municipalities to date, confirms the office of ÖVP Health Minister Karlheinz Kornhäusl. That is around 19 full-time jobs (previously 28).

The south-eastern Styrian municipalities of Fehring, Straden, Deutsch Goritz, Bad Gleichenberg and St. Anna am Aigen are no longer on board, while the range of services is being reduced in towns such as Feldbach and Leoben. Kumberg, for example, is merging with Stattegg and Eggersdorf, and Gratwein-Straßengel is also continuing with Gratkorn and St. Oswald.

It is unacceptable that Styrian municipalities have to discontinue their well-established community care services because they cannot afford the 40 percent cost share.

Sandra Krautwaschl (Die Grünen) 

Bild: Die Grünen Steiermark

"It is now up to Kunasek"
Sandra Krautwaschl, leader of the Green Party: "It is now up to the new provincial governor Mario Kunasek to rethink the funding and take responsibility as the provincial government - after all, the FPÖ has also called in the past for community nurses to be secured in the long term." At the beginning of the year, the FPÖ submitted a corresponding motion to the state parliament.