Hattmannsdorfer: The federal government should coordinate the search for nursing staff

2023-10-01 09:11:00

Austria is hardly visible on international job exchanges and nurses from Asian countries are being lost to other countries. The immigration and further training of qualified specialists must therefore be prioritized in the future. The federal government reacted mixed. In a broadcast on Sunday, Hattmannsdorfer complained that measures of the second federal care package had been announced for the fall, but had not yet been implemented.

In the spring, the federal government announced that more funds would be made available for the integration of immigrant nursing staff into the Austrian labor market. Nostrification, i.e. the recognition of foreign training, will also be made more efficient. Social and Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) announced at the end of May that he wanted to use part of this second care package worth 120 million euros to recruit nursing staff from all over the world.

“Acquisition doesn’t happen fast enough”

However, the international acquisition of skilled workers is not happening fast enough for Hattmannsdorfer. In terms of domestic politics, people also support each other when it comes to recruiting personnel: According to “Kurier”, the federal states are currently recruiting on their own – especially in Southeast Asia. Given the staff shortage, this is not surprising: it was only in the summer that Christian Lagger, chairman of the ARGE religious hospitals, pointed out that Austria needed around 90,000 new nursing staff by 2030 and that foreign skilled workers were therefore indispensable.

Nationwide coordination instead of regional competition

According to Hattmannsdorfer, in order to resolve the competition dilemma between the federal states, nationwide coordination is needed instead of regional competition: A newly created “federal agency for the recruitment of nursing staff” should in the future accompany qualified immigrants and support their relatives with integration, as the broadcast says . It should also conclude agreements with countries of origin to make entry easier – the city of Vienna and the Austrian Chamber of Commerce took the first step in the form of a “memorandum of understanding” with the Philippine government.

According to Hattmannsdorfer, it is particularly important to improve Austria’s image on the international labor market: “The federal government’s constant announcements must be followed by action, otherwise the federal states will continue to be forced to take measures independently,” criticized the state council for social affairs in the state’s statement on Sunday . The fact that the federal government is accusing the states of being “unwilling to reform” when it comes to care “is simply concealing their own inaction,” summed up the state councilor for social affairs.

According to “Kurier”, Hattmannsdorfer receives support from Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP). Health Minister Rauch believes that Europe-wide cooperation makes more sense than a national agency and unilateral plans – that would only fuel competition between EU states. In an interview with the “Kurier” Hattmannsdorfer was persistent – he expected “support from the federal government”.