Graz secures future of community nursing with European funds

Graz will continue its Community Nursing programme, ORF Steiermark reports, after European funding and budget reallocations secured its future despite financial pressures.

Community Nurses are qualified health and nursing professionals who work in local communities. They provide free, accessible advice and support for health concerns, and make home visits.

Graz’s future for the programme had been uncertain because the city lacked the €300,000 needed to fund it. Health councillor Robert Krotzer of the Communist Party of Austria said European grants and changes to the city budget had now secured its continuation.

Many Community Nursing projects elsewhere in Styria are due to end or be scaled back at the end of the year. At state level, the service is to be reorganised, with existing care coordination centres taking over. Qualified nursing staff will be employed at the centres and will also be able to make home visits.

The new model will begin in the districts of Graz-Umgebung, Leibnitz and Murtal.