TRENTO. “We have today in Apss 326 general practitioners. Of these, more than 90 have already turned 65. So we run into a situation in which we will not be able to replace them all“. To raise the alarm on the shortage of doctors in Trentino and beyond is the general director ofPierpaolo Benetollo sanitary company during the hearing of the IV Provincial Commission which was also attended by thecouncilor Stefania Segnana.
During the hearing, the director general touched on the thorny problem of the shortage of doctors in our area. An issue that has been going on for some time now.
For Benetollo not only the difficulty in replacing the doctors who will retire but also the fact that “The new School of Medicine will be able to provide us with a sufficient number of general practitioners in the coming years. It is necessary – he explained – work on this problem right away which, of course, does not only concern Trentino. In the near future there will be strong competition on the medical resource nationwide. For this reason, in the 2021-2025 strategic plan we set ourselves the theme of how to organize ourselves to attract and retain professionals. We don’t expect to solve the problem but this effort will make a difference”.
Another question concerning the future of Trentino health care referred to by the director of Apss it is about how to make progress in the organization of affiliated medicine. The situation has been blocked in recent years and now the key must be found to go in the directions consequent both to the aspirations of doctors and to the evolution of modern medicine. “The reasoning we are developing is that of local professional network. The basic idea is to recognize the relevance of these networks of professionals who in each territory respond to most of the health problems of citizens. In Val di Non we already have 18 emergency medical doctors, 25-30 medical doctors and the same number of home care nurses. These 70-80 professionals already work together and are the future answer to most of the area’s health problems. It is a question of giving relevance and weight to this fundamental brick of healthcare in the area. Around this brick – he concluded – everything else will be built ”.
During the hearing, the President of the Commission, Claudio Cia, he asked a question too on the difficulty of finding nurses despite the announcements. “If it is true that in the 1,200 nurses will retire next 5 years – has explained – given that there is a limited number in access to nursing school, we need to understand what is being done to avoid finding ourselves with an even stronger deficiency than the current one, even more so if we want both to keep the hospitals efficient and to invest in the greater presence of these figures (family and community nurses) in the area ”.
The answer to this issue was the head of the primary care area Simona Sforzin who explained how for nurses as well as for doctors it is necessary to act on recruitment systems in the national market, because discover that working in Trentino can give opportunities both professionally and personally. Among the examples given is the creation of the new figure of the community nurse destined to work in parallel with that of the family doctor. The goal, explained Sforzin, is to be attractive.
The Provincial Councilor of Futura, Paolo Zanella, stressed the need to also focus on training, reviewing the quantity of closed numbers and focusing on courses for nurses that are shorter than those of doctors.