10 young people

First care apprentices start training in Upper Austria

The young people are trained in retirement homes, hospitals and home care. (symbolic image).

(Bild: APA/BARBARA GINDL)

The number of people requiring care will rise sharply in the coming years. At the same time, there is a massive shortage of nursing staff, as in many other sectors. The nursing apprenticeship, which is now starting in Upper Austria, is intended to remedy this situation.

The first nursing apprentices in Upper Austria have already started their training. A total of ten apprentices are expected to join the pilot scheme in Upper Austria this year at the Ried Social Welfare Association and the Spallerhof Senior Citizens' Center in Linz. In November, they will start vocational school 1 (BS 1) in Linz, in cooperation with the School for Healthcare and Nursing at the Neuromed Campus (OÖG).

Another piece of the mosaic
The nursing apprenticeship creates - in addition to the higher nursing schools with Matura - a further access to nursing training before the age of 17, emphasized LH-Stv. Christine Haberlander, Landesrat Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (both ÖVP), Mayor Klaus Luger (SPÖ), Rieder Bezirkshauptfrau Yvonne Weidenholzer and Jennifer Nieke, Director of the School of Health and Nursing at the Kepler University Hospital (KUK) Linz, on Monday in Linz.

Broad-based training
In order to be a teaching company, all stages of nursing training must be offered, often in cooperation with others. For example, the Ried Social Welfare Association works together with the local hospital. A number of institutions are preparing their applications to become training companies, it was said. Interested young people must apply to a training company. One supervisor can accompany a maximum of three apprentices.

Several options
Apprentices can choose from two career paths: nursing assistance with an apprenticeship period of three years and the four-year apprenticeship to become a nursing assistant. The apprenticeship includes practical and theoretical training, such as caring for people in hospital, nursing homes and at home as well as people with disabilities and general and specialist teaching. The rotation for the new apprentices at Vocational School 1 in Linz will start in November each year.

They are paid according to the collective agreement. They start at 905.60 euros per month, rising to 1789.20 euros in the fourth year of training.