As the world's population ages, the need for long-term care and nurses to provide quality care is increasing. Person-centred approaches are essential to providing sustainable, high-quality care that meets the needs of older people. Little is known about what nurses value in long-term care and how they would strengthen current practice. In a descriptive qualitative study, we explored Austrian nurses' perspectives on what they value in geriatric nursing and their ideas for strengthening care for older people. Using a modified focus group approach that combined freelisting interviews and the nominal group technique, 12 nurses from nursing homes, home care, and community care participated. A combination of convenience and snowball sampling was used. The findings reveal that nurses highly value opportunities to provide individualised, person-centred care, foster older people's self-care abilities and engage with their families and relatives in care processes. Skilled geriatric nursing is associated with qualities such as empathy, sensitivity, compassion and broad professional expertise — all of which align with the person-centred care principles of dignity, respect, and partnership. The nurses prioritised three areas for strengthening geriatric nursing: (1) Promoting older people's self-care abilities through holistic, biography-based care and involving relatives. (2) Improving care coordination across services, with stronger roles for community nurses. (3) Fostering interprofessional teamwork, supported by skill- and grade-mix models.These findings highlight that person-centred care in geriatric nursing is not only about meeting clinical needs, but also about empowering older people, recognizing their preferences, and ensuring continuity of care across settings. Supporting nurses with adequate resources, reduced bureaucracy and recognition of their expertise is essential to sustain person-centred long-term care. Listening to nurses' voices provides valuable insights for shaping policies and practices that preserve the dignity, autonomy and quality of life of older persons.