LR Luisser, LH deputy. Haberlander and BM Rauch provided information on individual topics
St.Pölten (OTS) – Following the State Health Officers Conference in Luberegg, the Federal Minister for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection Johannes Rauch, Upper Austria’s Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander and State Councilor and NÖGUS Chairman Christoph Luisser provided information about selected topics of the conference at a press conference this afternoon.
Federal Minister Johannes Rauch said that it was “good practice” that the Health Minister was invited to the meeting of the state health officers. He was happy to accept this invitation because “the exchange with the federal states, especially with the health officers, is an important concern to me is. It is particularly important to me in times like these, because with the health care reform that we decided on as part of the financial equalization, we are already taking significant steps to improve the care of patients.” The states would be responsible for this under the responsibility of the state hospitals make the social insurance companies responsible for the established area. Through financial equalization they receive federal funds, the states receive 600 million euros per year, and the social security funds receive 300 million euros per year. “We do this because we believe that without investing in the health system we will not be able to improve situations. “We need improvements because we all know that we sometimes have long waiting times,” said Rauch. Especially for certain examinations, it is difficult to find a resident doctor and the waiting times are very long. People would also have to wait a long time to get to an appointment or an operation. “That means investing in the system, expanding care, improving accessibility, all of this is the aim of this health care reform, which was brought about together with the federal states. And I expect that the expansion of health insurance offices, which we are massively pushing forward with social insurance, will mean that the federal states will actually experience relief in their hospital outpatient departments,” the Federal Minister continued. There is often a situation in which people go to hospital outpatient clinics because the care in private practice is not sufficient. “That is unsatisfactory, it also puts an enormous burden on the hospital outpatient departments,” explained Rauch.
According to the Health Minister, there were a number of unanimous resolutions from the State Health Officers Conference, some of which were requests to the federal government. Rauch: “Some of these areas are already well on the way, such as an expansion of nursing competencies in the Health and Nursing Act or an improvement in digitalization.” He thanked for the good communication with the federal states and was “convinced of it “We will only achieve improvements in the Austrian healthcare system if everyone involved works together.”
Upper Austria’s deputy governor Christine Haberlander was at the press conference today because the next speakers’ conference will take place in Upper Austria in October, she said: “Health is our most important asset, therefore all those who deal with the topic “We are interested in achieving the best for the people in the respective state and throughout the country,” and went on to say that they are trying to combine care with preventative care for each and every individual. “There are different approaches in the countries and the health officer conference is a place where you can deal with it, compare ideas and struggle for common solutions. I really appreciate this committee and have been able to be part of it for several years. And it is characterized by the fact that we speak to representatives of different party political functions on an equal level,” she emphasized. Together we focus on the health system and the interests of patients. According to Haberlander, people have looked at how the health care reform in Austria can be designed. It is essential and important to improve the health system in the intramoral and extramoral areas. They have talked about it openly and honestly in the last few days, and she would like to thank her for that. She wanted to highlight three topics in particular: “Around the topic of the legalization of cannabis, we visited individual shops in Upper Austria and saw whether the quality that was sold there was good. We noticed that there were certainly contaminated products that were being offered for sale. This means that consumers go to a supposedly safe store, buy contaminated products, don’t even notice it, then consume it and then experience health problems. That’s why it’s important to us that we look very closely here, apply strict standards, control products, that we talk about what reporting and control obligations are, how advertising and sponsorship bans are handled and how the mail order ban happens, all in all the Tobacco and Non-Smoker Protection Act applies. “This is an application that we submitted from Upper Austria and that all federal states accepted,” she said.
Another application that deals with the topic of prevention is a nationwide uniform regulation for tobacco-free nicotine pouches. “These are banned in Upper Austria, but that is not the case in all federal states. We also talked about it today and agreed that there are uniform regulations nationwide,” said the Upper Austrian regional councilor.
Another big issue, according to Haberlander, is caring for patients with toothache. “We notice in many federal states that we are looking for dentists.” According to her, it is therefore essential and important to introduce a quota so that 75% of students at universities come from Austria. They also want to create a study to determine the future need for doctors. The third point includes those people “who come to us who have good training in the nursing or medical field, but where the recognition process takes a little longer. We have advocated that these recognition procedures be accelerated and at the same time it should be possible for people to be able to work under supervision during this time,” she further explained.
Haberlander concluded by saying that “these are issues that concern us every day as state health councilors. We developed common positions on this and these were adopted unanimously. Such decisions are always made unanimously, because the point is not to focus on individual interests, but rather on the interests of the patients, approach each other and then decide what is right and what is common.”
State Councilor Christoph Luisser stated that as chairman of the federal state chair, he could echo the words of the previous speakers. He singled out two points in particular: “On the one hand, there is the commitment made to expand the primary care units, which are more accessible to patients – even at off-peak times, including at weekends. And as my colleague said, all resolutions are unanimous and we have also given this commitment to the Federal Minister with the request to ensure further expansion.” Another thing, according to the regional council, “certainly the really big hit here in Lower Austria Chairmanship has succeeded,” is the federal target management agreement. Behind this “unwieldy” word lies the commitment as part of the federal government’s financial equalization negotiations with additional funds from the states to promote health care in the coming years. “That will be around 600 million euros per year that we will invest in outpatient hospital care across the states,” emphasized the state council, who further said: “And there have already been extensive negotiations here in the last few months, which have so far not led to any success . On my initiative, we introduced a special round yesterday and have taken a significant step forward and nothing stands in the way of an early solution and agreement within the framework of a federal target management agreement. Which I am very happy about for the sake of the patients in Austria.”
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