The specialist group for personal counseling and personal care in the Vienna Chamber of Commerce warned of this on Tuesday. Many of those affected or their families would no longer be able to afford the care. It will also be more expensive for caregivers – for example due to higher travel costs. An increase in care levels and funding is now required. An adjustment is overdue anyway, it said.
In principle, the model for 24-hour care that has existed since 2007 is very good, praised Harald Janisch, chairman of the specialist group. It enables the nursing staff, who often come from abroad, to work legally. However, since then there has also been no valorisation of the tariffs, he criticized. Even currently, the model hardly plays a role in the care reform, mainly dependent people are taken into account. But these would only make up a very small proportion, reported Janisch.
The support of 550 euros per month alone is lamented. An increase to at least 700 euros is necessary. “That is the minimum requirement,” emphasized the head of the specialist group. At least a doubling would be desirable. The Chamber of Commerce demands that care levels should also be increased. Birgit Meinhard-Schiebel, the president of the interest group for caring relatives, got into the same horn. She pointed out that there are almost a million caring relatives in Austria.
Again and again financial worries are articulated by those affected. Meinhard-Schiebel explained that it was often necessary to use one’s own assets to pay the costs. An increase in funding and then index-based annual adjustments are necessary, she stated.
Simultaneously to the financial escalation, there is a threat of bottlenecks among the nursing staff. “We can no longer afford to work for a fee that hasn’t changed in 15 years,” warned Bibiana Kudzinova. The Slovakian represents the professional group of caregivers in the specialist group. The enormous rise in prices also hit many nurses from Slovakia, where prices for energy, for example, had also risen, she reported. And: A problem would also be the increased travel costs.
It was unanimously emphasized that the costs for a care place in a public facility would be far higher – especially after the abolition of care recourse throughout Austria. It was pointed out that this would cost at least 5,000 euros per month.
Source: Nachrichten
