Rome, 30 June 2022 – “The new regulation on models and standards for the development of local assistance was recently published in the Official Gazette, after a long process of approval. The pivot of the system will be the health district within which the Community House will play a fundamental role, where citizens can find assistance 24 hours a day every day of the week. The reform will come into force on 7 July next and will represent a real revolution for general medicine and for Italian healthcare. It would be interesting to know how the 50,000 general practitioners think about the reform. Has anyone involved them, has they questioned them? ” asks Pina Onotri, Secretary General of the Italian Doctors Union (SMI) in presenting the opinion poll, commissioned by her own union and aimed at doctors, on the reform of territorial assistance.
“By now it is evident that the narration of the heroic doctors of the pandemic period was only celebratory, but that, in substance, the Government and politics have not changed their attitude towards doctors, who are neither recognized nor intended. sufficient resources, like other European countries. The doctors who increasingly represent the first front of the National Health Service, are preparing, this summer, to face the umpteenth wave of Covid, with retirement looming, with the pace of work that increases dramatically and with the young generations fleeing the profession “.
“For these reasons we have launched a public survey among doctors on the reform of territorial care. The survey was carried out from 15 June to 21 June 2022; more than 500 doctors answered. The questions were simple: we asked if the new reform was known and if it was believed that it would improve services and assistance to citizens and the work of doctors. A question was raised on gender equality in the medical profession in the face of the fact that women doctors are now the majority of the profession “.
“From the questionnaire it emerges that the best-informed doctors are mostly general practitioners, 52%, with 27% of retirees, university students, INPS, 12% of service medicine, 9% of territorial emergency. 90% of the replies believe that the reform will not improve jobs or services to citizens. These data give an insight into how this reform is perceived by those who should implement it “.
“In recent months, with the discussion about the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Ministerial Decree 71 and then now DM 77, we started from the assumption, taking into account the experience of the pandemic, that the evolution of territorial of a better and more performing healthcare offer to citizens, homogeneous from the North to the South of the country, can no longer ignore greater protections for professionals. Therefore, a reform of territorial assistance that does not invest in human capital and therefore in doctors risks becoming only a health building operation ”.
“Furthermore, a reform of territorial assistance that is not declined to women, focusing on effective policies for equal opportunities considering that, for the first time, in 2019, an overtaking of women doctors in the category was certified, risks not take into account how the medical profession has changed in recent years. There is a need to invest in medical personnel both in economic terms and in terms of protection to prevent the desertification of the National Health Service ”concludes Onotri.