First aid without doctors, 8.5 million annual tender for outsourced shifts

The professionals of Ulss 1 are not enough, the company seeks them from other realities

BELLUNO. Ulss 1 Dolomiti bans the first aid service. In fact, the doctors present in the company are not enough to cover all shifts and it is necessary to seek availability in other situations. An operation that will cost more than 8 million euros. In fact, the tender procedure for the conclusion of a framework agreement with several operators aimed at entrusting the emergency and urgent medical service in the Emergency Department of the Ulss Dolomiti hospitals: Belluno, Feltre, Agordo and Pieve di Cadore.

In light of the lack of professionals and in order to ensure continuity of the service, the company decided to launch a tender, for the purchase of shifts, divided into three lots: 365 daytime H12 shifts and 365 nighttime H12 shifts in the Emergency Department. of the Belluno hospital; 365 H12 night shifts at the Feltre Emergency Department and 365 H12 day shifts at the Agordo Emergency Department; and finally  365 daytime H12 shifts and 365 nighttime H12 shifts at the Pieve di Cadore emergency room. The total amount of the tender is 8,564. 914, 80 (excluding VAT).

The tender documents will be published by 9 September, with the deadline for submitting the offer by 30 September. The assignment is expected by November, with the start of the service on January 1, 2023.

“After the announcement for the outsourcing of anesthesia in Pieve di Cadore, we are forced to announce a tender for the purchase of emergency and urgent medical shifts, a specialty in which there is a serious shortage of professionals at national level »Comments the general director of Ulss 1 Dolomiti, Maria Grazia Carraro. But the company will be forced to ban other services as well. «The way of outsourcing has already been experienced by other Venetian and national realities. In the coming weeks, the procedures for the other specialties will be launched where the shortage of professionals is putting the sustainability of the services at risk. Outsourcing, which does not mean privatizing “, Carraro points out,” is today the only solution currently possible to guarantee performance in all our hospitals, after years of trying all the possible ways to find staff. The alternative would be to reduce services or locations, which is not in my plans. I would like to reassure citizens that there will not be a decline in the quality of the services offered: governance and control remain with the Ulss and they will be very careful. I am also sure that our professional network will be able to integrate external professionals, so that as well as with professionalism and competence they can take care of our clients with humanity and care, as we are used to offering in our valleys ».