After the scandal

Retirement home is only slowly filling up again

Residents such as Katharina Klement, pictured with area manager Claudia Lechenauer-Tonis, are now being looked after by more care assistants.(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

The Senecura retirement home in Salzburg-Lehen, which attracted attention due to dramatic abuses, has been under new management for nine months. The City of Salzburg, as the new operator, has drawn a first positive balance. However, the goal of offering 90 beds again is still a long way off. 

The privately run retirement home in Salzburg made headlines around two years ago due to poor care. "It was all about profits," said Andrea Brandner, City Councillor for Social Affairs, describing the former private management during a site visit to the former Senecura home in Lehen.

Things are different now, Brandner said on Tuesday, taking stock. Since being taken over by the city on March 1, 2024, a lot has been renovated in the building. The rooms were completely worn out and the call system in the building had to be replaced. New open-plan kitchens on the floors will also make it possible to share the house in future.

However, the goal of accommodating 90 senior citizens again is still a long way off. And not only because the structural standard was unexpectedly poor. The employees who were taken on were unsettled by the scandal, explained house manager Thomas Thöny. A psychologist helped to weld the team together in recent months. Above all, the day-to-day companions and carers have been expanded. Their group has grown from five to 22. They are key to relieving the nursing staff, says Thöny.

Because further renovations are still needed and around 20 carers are still missing, the full occupancy rate is being stretched. There are currently 35 senior citizens living in the home. By Christmas there will be 43 and by February the city is aiming for 60 residents.