Salzburg city challenges state’s claim to nursing emergency service

Salzburg’s city government has criticised the state’s announcement of a nursing emergency service, saying the city’s social services department has been developing the planned service for more than a year, according to ORF.

The service is intended to help older people who need care with problems such as wound treatment or catheters. From 2027, specially assigned nurses would visit patients at home, sparing them difficult, time-consuming and costly trips to hospital.

The state of Salzburg presented the service on Monday as one of the key results of its care platform.

Andrea Brandner, Salzburg’s city councillor responsible for social affairs, said she was surprised that the state had presented the project publicly as its own initiative.

“This nursing emergency service is clearly the result of a great deal of work in the city of Salzburg,” Brandner said. “We are pleased if the state now supports it. But presenting it as the state’s invention surprised me greatly.”

Brandner said the necessary staff was already available, but the project had not yet been finalised. The annual cost of slightly more than one million euros is to be shared by the city, the state of Salzburg and the Austrian Health Insurance Fund, ÖGK. Not all required decisions by the relevant bodies have been made.

If the remaining approvals are secured, the service could begin in the first half of 2027, Brandner said.