Lower Austria puts 2027 emergency doctor reform under review
Friday 23rd October 2026 on 09:45 in
Austria
Lower Austria’s planned overhaul of emergency medical care may not start on 1 April 2027, ORF reports, as the state reviews unresolved legal and organisational questions. Regional councillor Eva Prischl has commissioned an external assessment, saying a delay is “not excluded”.
The reform would restructure 11 emergency doctor bases. At least 26 locations staffed by emergency paramedics with extended competencies are planned for the first phase, with the number of such RTW-C locations expected to reach 86 by 2030.
Prischl invited representatives of rescue organisations to a round-table meeting on Friday. She said the change should go ahead only if the new structure is legally secure and continuity of care can be guaranteed.
The Austrian Society for Emergency and Disaster Medicine has been asked to assess whether the planned service meets legal requirements. Its findings are expected in the coming weeks. Until then, Prischl has asked rescue organisations to pause measures that would be difficult to reverse and could affect service continuity.
The review comes as several supporting measures in the Health Plan 2040+ have been delayed. Expanding the number of Acute Community Nurse locations from six to 10 is not expected to be completed before 2028. The planned air rescue infrastructure at state hospitals will also not be fully in place by 1 April 2027.
Questions also remain over the future role of “diploma-qualified emergency paramedics”, a profession proposed in the health plan. The federal government is responsible for establishing the role in law.
Additional measures developed during the reform process include expanded emergency competencies for paramedics and closer cooperation with Vienna. Talks with Upper Austria and Styria are also under way to arrange cross-border support if needed. Prischl said the priority was meeting legal requirements and ensuring adequate emergency medical care, rather than keeping to the original launch date. She said those conditions were not yet in place.