Rescue services back plan to close 11 doctor bases

Rescue organisations say emergency care in Lower Austria will remain well covered despite plans to close 11 emergency doctor bases, ORF reported on Tuesday. They say the system will have fewer emergency doctors but more paramedics with expanded skills.

Wolfgang Frühwirt, Lower Austria’s Red Cross rescue commander, described the current level of coverage as “second to none”. Christian Fohringer of Notruf NÖ, an emergency call service, called the planned model a significant step forward. Frühwirt said it would be at least equivalent to the current system because patients would benefit from paramedics’ expanded skills. He added that paramedics were not intended to replace emergency doctors.

The aim, the organisations said, is to get the right level of care to patients as quickly as possible and reduce unnecessary emergency doctor call-outs. They said cost-cutting was not the priority, but resources had to be managed carefully. The response network includes first responders, paramedics, telemedicine doctors, emergency doctors and helicopters for transport to hospital, said Jürgen Heinrich of the Samaritan Federation (ASBÖ).

Since 2023, emergency doctors in Lower Austria have been dispatched only when their involvement is expected to benefit the patient. Emergency doctor vehicles were alerted nearly 53,000 times in 2022, compared with about 38,000 times the following year. In 2025, around 36,000 alerts led to almost 25,000 patient contacts; about 8,700 patients benefited from an emergency doctor. There have been about 26,400 alerts so far this year.

The number of cases requiring an emergency doctor varies widely between locations. Fohringer said doctors were needed for procedures such as emergency anaesthesia. Patients suffering a stroke or heart attack, however, need to be taken to a specialist centre, which is not necessarily the nearest hospital.

Eleven of Lower Austria’s 32 emergency doctor bases are due to close from April 2027, leaving 21. The 86 locations for type C ambulance vehicles will remain. From 1 April 2027, 26 will be staffed around the clock by paramedics with expanded NKV skills, which include inserting a vein line and giving infusions. Staffing at the remaining locations will be upgraded by 2030.

The Red Cross and ASBÖ currently have 3,057 paramedics in Lower Austria, about a quarter of their ambulance personnel. Nearly 1,900 have at least NKV skills. Of paramedics, 81 percent are volunteers; among those with expanded skills, the share is 72 percent. Heinrich said 200 to 300 training places for paramedics to gain NKV skills are available each year.

SPNÖ health spokesperson Rainer Spenger said the expanded paramedic roles, ambulance vehicles, telemedicine and air rescue were important developments, but must be available across the region and work in practice. He called for no emergency doctor base to close until an at least equivalent replacement and a functioning care network had been demonstrated.