The situation emerging from the monitoring of the Ministry of Health seems to mark a worsening compared to the previous year
by Marzio Bartoloni
More than half of the Italian regions do not guarantee essential health care: only 9 out of 21 manage to do so while 12 have values below the threshold in at least one of the three macro-areas examined, namely prevention, local care (the district area ) and the hospital. And the situation seems to be worsening compared to the previous year, if the currently preliminary data from the Ministry of Health, relating to 2022, presented in a hearing last February 6 in the Senate by the ministry’s programming director Americo Cicchetti, are confirmed.
According to this new monitoring – still partial for now – on the essential levels of assistance (Lea), i.e. the essential care that must be guaranteed to all citizens, the number of regions, when compared with 2021, which have insufficient performance has in fact increased : there are precisely 12 – while there were 8 the previous year (including the autonomous province of Bolzano) – those that do not reach the threshold in the three indicators considered, namely prevention area, district area and hospital area. Veneto is the region with the best results, followed by Emilia Romagna and Tuscany. Lombardy and the autonomous province of Trento also performed well. On the contrary, Valle d’Aosta is the region with the worst data: it is the only one with values below the threshold in all three macro-areas.
To evaluate the health situation of the Italian regions, these grids on essential levels of assistance take into consideration various indicators collected in three macro categories: hospital, district and prevention. Each indicator is weighted and measured based on the “threshold” values provided in the measurement system, resulting in a final score. The regions that have numbers below sufficient numbers in one of the indicators are Bolzano, Liguria, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, all in the Prevention area. However, Piedmont (District and Hospital), Campania (Prevention, District), Basilicata (District, Hospital), Calabria (Prevention and District), Sicily (Prevention and District) and Sardinia (Prevention) are lacking in two sectors. , District). Results below the threshold for Valle d’Aosta in all three indicators.
As mentioned, Veneto ensures better than anyone else in Italy the essential levels of assistance and healthcare services that each Region must guarantee to its citizens. According to the first data, which are not yet definitive, Veneto still excels in its ability to provide citizens with the essential levels of assistance that are owed by all on the basis of the Constitution. – states the President of the Region Luca Zaia – An evaluation that makes us proud and which I dedicate to all healthcare workers, who fight every day to keep the level of performance high despite the thousand problems of this period, starting with the national shortage of personnel. Respecting the Constitution, which the Lea provides for – adds Zaia – is a very significant result, even if unfortunately the areas of Italy that are unable to do so are increasing. This situation will have to be thoroughly evaluated, mainly at a national level, also in relation to the path of differentiated autonomy which will call everyone to have more responsibility and greater attention to the correct use of public resources, starting with those of healthcare.
Marzio Bartoloni
Deputy Head of Service