What remedies to revive public health? Doria (Sardinia): “Reduce the use of outsourcing”

by Elisabetta Caredda

The Councilor for Health of the Sardinia Region emphasizes some problems that he is raising at the national table for the relaunch of public health and therefore also of the regional health machine. “My commitment is aimed at proposing timely measures to renew and encourage interest in the NHS, by all health professionals, to avoid increasingly frequent escapes to the private sector or to more profitable foreign realities”, he explains.

24 MAR – The relaunch of public health, which also embraces that of the regional health machine of Sardinia, according to the regional health councilor, Charles Doria, passes through the critical observations on the use of increasingly frequent ‘outsourcing’ of health services and the proactive initiatives to reverse the trend. Themes on which Doria also works within the State-Regions conference and which he announces in our newspaper.

“In Sardinia all the measures that locally they can be put in place to optimize the performance of the regional health machine – explains the Professor – have now been adopted with the utmost commitment by the entire council and by all the general managers of the health and hospital companies. My task, also in the political capacity that I occupy within the State-Regions conference, is to advance and share regulatory proposals aimed at ensuring the strengthening of human resources especially in vital and indispensable services to guarantee the LEAs among which that of the emergency stands out -urgency”.

“This compartment – continues the councilor -, of fundamental importance for hospital and territorial health, is now in the grip of an out-of-control ‘market’ caused by the use of forms of ‘outsourcing’ of health services which translates into an occasional and of external professionals, by companies, decreasing the quality of the service with an extremely significant economic cost”.

“The chronic shortage of health personnel especially in the emergency-urgency departments – underlines the Giunta exponent -, with the low approval rating of schools specializing in emergency medicine and surgery, anesthesiology and others, has pushed the companies themselves to engage in forms of atypical, through the awarding of external contracts, sometimes of entire departments, with increasing costs no longer accounted for under personnel costs, but under those for goods and services. The distorted use of outsourcing, however, has not only generated an increasingly heavy burden on the structures, but has also led to serious critical issues in terms of safety of care”.

“My commitment – continues Doria – is aimed at proposing timely measures to the national table to renew and stimulate interest in the NHS, by all health professionals to avoid increasingly frequent escapes to the private sector or to more profitable foreign realities. I always want to recall the French saying ‘l’Argent fait la guerre’ and in particular I invite the national legislator to study as soon as possible the possibility of an increase in the hourly rates of additional services, for the reduction of waiting lists, so as to make the the use of these services by companies and NHS bodies gives more incentive for the recipient health professionals, as well as more useful for the community”.

“It is necessary to provide measures of rewarding of career for those who agree to provide their service in the most demanding and front-line departments – underlines the Professor -, as well as thinking about possible tax exemption measures for additional work and specific allowances for medical and healthcare management. It would certainly be useful to think of adopting further regulatory initiatives as soon as possible which take into consideration, also for a valorisation for social security purposes, the difficulty and discomfort of the work performed in the emergency-urgency services, in the awareness of the centrality of human resources for the development and the functioning of hospital services”.

“The emergency of health personnel has distant origins to which numerous factors have contributed – concludes the councilor -, not least an incorrect evaluation and planning of needs over time, with the growing increase in the relative average age of the personnel and an excessive rigidity of the limits on the expenditure of the employees who over time, it has made the work performed at NHS bodies and companies unattractive. Today the time has come for a drastic change of course by investing more resources in public health, which must continue to be universal, guaranteeing high quality standards of services”.

Elizabeth Caredda

March 24, 2023
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