Rome, 23 April (beraking latest news Salute) – They were scourged by Covid-19 in the first wave, registering a high incidence, yet the autonomous province of Bolzano and the Veneto region “have not only been able to effectively stem the tsunami they have faced, on the contrary, they responded relatively better than in regions less affected by the infection “. This is highlighted by the analysis presented this morning by the MeS Management and Health Laboratory of the Institute of Management of the Sant’Anna High School in Pisa, during an online seminar organized in collaboration with the ‘Network of the Regions’.
The national indications in 2020 have identified some “non-compressible” services, for which the regional health systems have been called upon to make an effort to reduce the volumes provided as little as possible. This is the case, for example, of oncological services: surgeries for breast cancer (priority class A) drop on average by 14% in 2020, compared to 2019, but there are realities such as Marche and Friuli Venezia Giulia that have contracted disbursement below 2%, and the autonomous province of Bolzano which even recorded an increase (+ 7%).
In this case – explains the analysis – a decline in performance in the period March-June 2020 was followed by a rebound both in the period between July and September and in that between October and December. Another example: lung cancer surgeries (priority class A) drop on average – among the network regions – by 19%, with reductions of more than 20% in Puglia, Umbria, Lombardy and Liguria and, on the contrary , stable (Bolzano) or even slightly growing, compared to 2019, like Tuscany (+ 1.4%).
Even in the cardiovascular field, the survey highlights, the variability is marked: hospitalizations for coronary artery bypass grafting drop by an average of 24%. The Basilicata Region is, in this case, going against the trend and registering an increase of 5%, probably due to a reduction in passive mobility (medical travel). On the other hand, angioplasty interventions decreased in all Regions (-16.7%), although realities such as Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia contain the decrease to just over 10%.
With reference to the stability of the quality of the services provided, there is a significant inter-regional variability. As an example, the percentage of femoral neck fractures operated within two days decreases on average by about 4%, with a more marked reduction in Basilicata (-19%) and instead an improvement in Veneto, Marche and Puglia.