Commission set up

Rescue services: Province of Styria wants optimization

Symbolic image

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

Long response times, exploding costs, lack of transparency: these are serious points of criticism that the Court of Audit brought to the surface in its report on the Styrian rescue service in December. The province of Styria is now responding and launching an optimization commission.

"We want to make good things better!" This is the motto under which the province of Styria intends to optimize the Styrian rescue services in the coming months. Recently, a Court of Audit report highlighted numerous deficiencies. A commission has now been set up under the leadership of Harald Eitner, Head of the Department of Civil Protection and National Defense, to look intensively at how the Styrian rescue service "can be improved in line with the recommendations recently made by the State Court of Audit", announced Health Minister Karlheinz Kornhäusl and Governor Mario Kunasek in a joint press release on Monday.

"There is still a need for action"
What is on the agenda for Eitner? "Thanks to the commitment of thousands of volunteers and the outstanding work of the Styrian rescue organizations, Styria's rescue services provide a very high quality of care by international standards," he says. "Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement and the most recent Court of Audit report on the rescue service has shown that there is still a need for action in terms of organizational structure, use of funds and cost transparency. The task of this commission will be to define this and recommend concrete measures."

In order to make use of the expertise of the various partners in the rescue and healthcare sector, the commission will invite members from the different areas to participate. Specifically, for example, experts from the rescue and hospital sector, the Health Fund and the Development and Planning Institute for Health will be involved. As a key partner in the Styrian rescue services, the Styrian Red Cross, headed by President Siegfried Schrittwieser, is closely involved in the joint further development, according to the press release.