They are missing pediatricians in Italy. The estimate? At least 840 more would be needed while those who practice must follow at least 100 more children beyond the maximum threshold established by law of 800 children to be assisted for each pediatrician. If we move the magnifying glass over the territory, very worrying shortcomings appear which have repercussions on the workload of these doctors. There are peaks of over 1,000 assisted in Piedmont, Tuscany and the Province of Bolzano.
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Piedmont, Tuscany and Bolzano: peaks of over 1000 children for each pediatrician
This was reported by the Gimbe Foundation which talks about increasingly troubled families with large regional differences. In absolute terms, the national average is 896 assisted per doctor and at the regional level only Umbria (784), Sardinia (788), Sicily (792) and Molise (798) remain below the ceiling without derogations; 17 Regions instead exceed the average of 800 patients of which Piedmont (1,092), the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (1,060) and Tuscany (1,057) are over the average of 1,000 assisted.
Between 2019 and 2021 the professionals affiliated with the national health service are decreased by 5.5%. «The alarm on the shortage of pediatricians of free choice – he says Nino Cartabellotta President of the Gimbe Foundation – today it is launched by parents in all Regions, from North to South who complain about bureaucratic issues, lack of responses from the Local Health Authorities, pediatricians with exorbitant numbers of patients, up to the impossibility of exercising the right to enroll one’s children with the family pediatrician with potential health risks, especially for the youngest and most fragile”.
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To better understand the causes and dimensions of the phenomenon, the Gimbe Foundation has analyzed the critical aspects of the rules governing the inclusion of free-choice paediatricians in the national health service and estimated the extent of the shortage in the various Italian regions.
«It is good to specify – explains Cartabellotta – three fundamental aspects: the rules on the age groups of exclusive assistance of minors, those to define the ceiling of the assisted and those to identify the areas lacking in paediatricians are the result of compromises with general practitioners , as well as the trade union policies of the paediatricians themselves. Secondly, on shortages and needs it is only possible to make estimates at the regional level, because the real need for paediatricians is estimated by the individual Local Health Authorities”.
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Choice of pediatrician: how it works
Up to the age of six, children must be assisted by law by a paediatrician of free choicewhile between the ages of 6 and 14 parents can choose between a pediatrician of their choice and a general practitioner. At the age of 14, the revocation of the doctor is automaticexcept for patients with documented chronic pathologies or disabilities for whom an extension can be requested up to the age of 16.
According to the provisions of the Ministry of Health, the maximum number of patients assisted by a pediatrician is set at 800, but there are various national, regional and local exemptions which often lead to over 1,000 subscribers.
“It is quite clear – says Cartabellotta – that the calculation method underestimates the need: paradoxically, referring to the rules in force, pediatricians would even be made redundant because their need is estimated only for children up to the age of 6”.
The family pediatricians are missing
But raising the retirement age to 72 and raising the cap to 1,000 only sweeps the dust under the carpet#Let’s saveSSN #GIMBE pic.twitter.com/2THGySCmNM— Nino Cartabellotta (@Cartabellotta) May 4, 2023
«The shortage – concludes Cartabellotta – derives from errors in planning the needs, but remains strongly conditioned both by short-sighted trade union policies and by local variables that are not always predictable which make it difficult to calculate the needs. Raising the retirement age to 72 and raising the ceiling to 1,000 only serves to sweep the dust under the carpet and not to solve the serious shortage problem.