Wels: Nurturing heated tempers in the local council

The dominant topic at the Wels municipal council meeting on Monday was the issue of care. The recruitment of care workers from other EU countries was unanimously decided – as was the rental of the former dementia shared apartment in the Dragonerhöfen to Caritas, which will offer assisted living for people with disabilities. An initiative proposal by SP representative Johann Reindl-Schwaighofer, according to which the city should start its own nursing training, was assigned to the Social Committee.

Despite her group’s approval of the two agenda items on care, SP representative Hannah Stögermüller did not hold back in her criticism of the mayor’s party: “What the Freedom Party is doing is far too little and far too late.” The problem in Wels is home-made with austerity policies – due to the shortage of staff, the burden on remaining staff is growing. “I expect the Freedom Party to take responsibility in their areas and invest in care infrastructure and better working conditions, not just in festivals and parks,” said Stögermüller.

“Beds are enough for demand”

The responsible deputy mayor, Christa Raggl-Mühlberger, did not want to “let people speak badly about the care in Wels”. The 452 beds that currently exist in Wels, despite 92 beds being blocked, would be enough to cover the demand. The waiting times in other cities are much worse.

The closure of the dementia shared flat was also discussed in light of the subletting of the former rooms. The SPÖ once again accused the reason for this was to cut costs. FPÖ representatives again stressed that the shared flats had been closed due to a ruling by the Supreme Court that they were considered retirement homes. As a result, they no longer fulfilled their original purpose.

According to city councillor Thomas Rammerstorfer (Greens), the project was indeed good for the residents thanks to the care required: “But we have 500 to 800 dementia sufferers in Wels, for whom the quality of care was poorer as a result.” Such prestige projects often served to distract from the actual emergency.

Greens want to observe closely

Rammerstorfer also announced that the Greens would closely monitor the recruitment of nursing staff by an external company: “Companies are currently springing up in this area,” and not all of them are trustworthy. However, he is not aware of any problems with the company that the city has commissioned.

Reindl-Schwaighofer’s proposal that the city should start its own nursing training was rejected. The matter was referred to the responsible social committee. With the appropriate framework conditions – such as childcare – the city would have a chance of getting “the most loyal employees”. In her response, Raggl-Mühlberger read out a statement from the senior care department in the city council, according to which the right framework conditions for such training do not exist in Wels.

There were no speeches on the topic of care from VP, Neos and MFG.