Vienna to add qualified nursing assistants to care-home staffing rules

Vienna plans to legally include qualified nursing assistants in the staffing requirements for residential and nursing homes, ORF reports. A legislative amendment is expected to enter a review process in the coming days.

The change would formally recognise the nursing qualification after about 1,800 people in Vienna have completed the training. The qualification has not previously been included in the relevant law.

“If the operating authorisation law does not allow them to carry out their work, they cannot do it. That is, of course, frustrating,” Vienna Health Councillor Peter Hacker of the Social Democratic Party said.

The amendment would also change the staffing ratio. Currently, 30 percent of staff must be professionally trained nurses. In future, at least 15 percent would have to be professionally trained nurses and a further 15 percent qualified nursing assistants. The total number of employees would remain unchanged.

The change has the support of the organisations that operate Vienna’s care facilities, said Christian Hennefeind, director of the Board of Trustees of Vienna Pensioners’ Homes. He said the organisations had been involved in drafting the amendment and that practical experience had been taken into account.

Under the planned division of responsibilities, professionally trained nurses would remain responsible for complex cases and care planning. Nursing assistants would focus more on daily care and support, while qualified nursing assistants could take on tasks such as wound care, drawing blood and administering medication.

The aim was to have “the right competence at the right time in the right place” so that residents received the best possible care, Hennefeind said. Residents should not notice any change in their daily interactions with care staff.

The amendment is expected to be passed later this year, with the new rules scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027.