Österle, A.

OBJECTIVE: The Austrian long-term care system covers all types of long-term chronic diseases and handicaps and is based on a payment for care scheme. The benefit is directed to care recipients, who are - in the outpatient sector - largely free in how to use it. Herewith, the payment for care scheme also has a significant impact on the provision of informal care. The paper studies this impact for the particular case of informal care provided for mentally ill people.

In Austria, the provision of long-term care is strongly based on unpaid female work within family networks and is characterised by a highly unequal division of informal long-term care-giving. In 1993, a major reform has been introduced in the Austrian long-term care system with a payments for care programme and a state–provinces treaty regarding service development at its heart.