May 30, 2023 – For the Departments of Public Health it is time for change and innovation, so as to respond in the most effective way to the objectives of the DM77 and to the prospect of a territorial health system ever closer to citizens.
Precisely on these issues, the regional councilorship for health policies of the Emilia-Romagna Region hosted in recent days in Bologna, at the headquarters in viale Aldo Moro 21, the workshop “Integration of Public Health Departments in the strategic perspectives of innovation and development of the health system”, hosting the heads of the public health departments of all the regions.
At the center of the comparison are the actions that the departments will have to put in place as part of the review process of territorial medicine, also networking the prevention and health functions, also enhancing the related control and surveillance activities deriving from specific national and European.
In the future strategic perspectives of innovation and development of the health system, it is necessary to support the role of the Departments of Public Health within and in support of corporate organizations, to enhance the many skills that prevention and public health professionals have acquired over the years (the management of health emergencies, the prophylaxis of infectious diseases, the promotion of healthy lifestyles, antimicrobial resistance, in-depth analysis of environmental, climatic, work and animal health issues). Furthermore, the role of these professionals in linking with specialists in the hospital environment is equally important, to strengthen the networks for taking care of patients with infectious diseases who are chronically ill, in order to also intervene on the determinants linked to lifestyles and the environment who favored them.
During the day, therefore, the point was taken to arrive at identifying shared strategies and methods for integrating the operations of the DSP functions within the territorial health system and to identify proposals for the future organization of the DSPs.