Strong criticism of conditions in retirement homes
politics
The municipality of Radstadt (Pongau) will terminate its contract with the retirement home operator Senecura. This was decided unanimously on Thursday evening at a crisis meeting of the municipal council. The reason for this are complaints about inadequate care in the retirement home. Community representatives speak of intolerable conditions.
Incorrect dispensing of medication, late or no food distribution, problems with the treatment of residents suffering from dementia – Radstadt city councilor Hans Warter (SPÖ) reports on these abuses. The complaints came from relatives of the residents.
“Better conditions in every prison”
Warter emphasizes that unbelievable things have come to the table: “I can only put it bluntly: you are better off in every prison in Austria.”
Radstadt Mayor Christian Pewny (FPÖ) was not available for ORF to comment on Friday. In the crisis meeting on Thursday evening, he was commissioned by the municipal council to terminate the contract with the operating company Senec: “He should conduct negotiations with a lawyer.”
Radstadt politicians now want to bring the old people’s home back into the municipal association of Radstadt, Forstau and Untertauern and continue it on this level with the neighboring municipalities.
Opinion of the operating company
Senecura has been operating the retirement home since January 2021. The company informed ORF on request that it was noted that the municipality of Radstadt wanted to operate the nursing home itself again in the future: “We are currently examining the possibilities for this, but note that not maintenance deficiencies are the reason for the termination of the contract. An official investigation has shown that individual incidents in everyday care – to which the opposition in the community refers – do not constitute care deficiencies.”