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UPDATE: Schools and kindergartens to close under Austria’s new shutdown rules

Schools and kindergartens are set to close from Monday except for 'essential care' under a forecast tightening of Austria’s coronavirus lockdown measures, Austrian media reports.

Published: 13 November 2020 16:04 CET

UPDATE: Schools and kindergartens to close under Austria's new shutdown rules

Students arrive to the Akademisches Gymnasium high school in Vienna. Photo: JOE KLAMAR / AFP

NEW: Austria to re-enter lockdown on Tuesday – CLICK HERE for the latest announcements

Der Standard reported late on Friday that schools and kindergartens will close as a result of the need to cut rising coronavirus infections in Austria.

Mirroring the shutdown which took place in Austria in the spring, the schools will “remain open to families who need care”.

The closures are expected to take place for two to three weeks ahead of the Christmas holidays.

READ: Austria set for stricter coronavirus measures from Monday

Distance learning will be provided.

In addition, all shops other than banks, pharmacies and supermarkets will be required to close.

Hairdressers and other service providers are also likely to be closed under the new measures.

Austrian tabloid Kronen Zeitung reports that working from home could be made mandatory under the lockdown, while visiting nursing homes and hospitals could also be banned.

Some federal states have already put in place visitation bans or restrictions, however this would be implemented nationwide.

Der Standard reports that the decision was made on Friday afternoon, with an official announcement to be made on Saturday.

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Patients in Vienna face long waits for specialist health appointments

Accessing essential healthcare within a reasonable timeframe is becoming increasingly difficult for Viennese residents.

The Vienna Medical Association presented their new study this week which shows that waiting times for appointments with health specialists have increased significantly in recent years.

The study, which involved contacting over 850 doctors’ practices via so-called “mystery calls,” revealed that child and adolescent psychiatry currently had the longest waiting times in the city.

Patients can expect to wait an average of 90 days for an appointment.

Other specialisations where patients have to wait long to receive help include radiology (57 days), neurology (45 days), ophthalmology (44 days), pulmonology (36 days), internal medicine (33 days), and dermatology (28 days).

The waiting time for seeing a gynaecologist has increased fourfold since 2012, with patients now waiting an average of 32 days.

READ MORE: Why are there fewer public sector doctors in Austria?

No new patients accepted

In certain specialist areas, there is no capacity to accommodate new patients. The situation where no new patients are accepted occurs particularly often in paediatric practices, where more than half of the public healthcare practices have put a freeze on admissions.

In child and adolescent psychiatry, 40 percent do not accept new patients, and among gynaecologists, it is almost a third (30 percent). Family doctors also struggle with welcoming new patients, and many of their practices have already reached full capacity.

The Medical Association calls for immediate action, urging the health insurance sector to become more attractive and receive better funding. This could involve measures to incentivise doctors to work within the public system, potentially reducing wait times and improving patient access to care.

During the study presentation, Johannes Steinhart, president of the association, described the increased waiting times as the result of neglect within the established health insurance sector. He said he believes that the public health system is massively endangered.

Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, chairwoman of the Curia of the resident doctors in the association, pointed out that while the population of the federal capital has grown by 16 percent since 2012, the number of public doctors has fallen by 12 percent in the same period.

The association now wants to make the public healthcare system more attractive to doctors, which could cut down waiting times and make it easier for patients to receive care. The association’s demands for this to happen include increasing flexibility in contract options, integrating health and social professions in individual practices, reducing bureaucracy, and improving fees.

ÖGK, Österreichische Gesundheitskasse, Austria’s largest public healthcare fund, is currently creating 100 additional public health positions, with almost two-thirds of the positions already having applicants, as well as planning for another 100 positions. They also aim to create a central telemedicine service and a platform for making appointments by phone and online, which is meant to reduce waiting times and improve access to care.

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