Petition handed over

200 hours overtime in nine months in nursing care

Intensive care nurse Maximilian Lindpointner (30) is petitioning for a reduction in working hours and higher bonuses for night shifts.(Bild: © Harald Dostal / 2024)

Intensive care nurse Maximilian Lindpointner (30) - his partner also works in nursing and collected 200 hours of overtime in nine months - started a private petition for better working conditions, and more than 20,000 people signed it in just a few weeks. Now he has handed over his demands to the health officer.

"After nine months of working in nursing, my partner had already accumulated almost 200 hours of overtime," says Maximilian Lindpointner (30), himself an intensive care nurse in a hospital in Linz. "That's not an isolated case and is due to filling in for sick leave and the fact that duty rosters are generally very thinly staffed due to the shortage of personnel."

So the 30-year-old started a private petition for better working conditions. Within two and a half months, more than 20,000 people supported his demands online, such as higher bonuses for night shifts and for shifts that have to be taken on spontaneously - the "Krone" reported.

20,559 signatures

were collected by intensive care nurse Maximilian Lindpointner from Linz within a few weeks with an online petition. In it, the 30-year-old calls for better working conditions for himself and his colleagues at the hospital.

Petition to the health officer
The Linz resident has now handed over the petition to Deputy Governor and Health Officer Christine Haberlander (ÖVP). Both sides then reported a "good exchange". It was also discussed that nursing staff could be forced to stand in as a last resort if there was a risk to patient care.

How is the health officer now dealing with the demands? "I keep hearing in conversations that the unplannable nature of filling in is a huge burden. It is therefore clear to me that improvements are needed in this regard," says Haberlander when asked.