Modena, 10 May 2024 – Cooperatives of doctors, budget, waiting lists, reorganization of services. These are the topics addressed by the general director of the Modena Local Health Authority Anna Maria Petrini on the sidelines of the Territorial social and health conference.
“Staffing shortages are another pandemic, a critical issue that we have been facing for years. We have problems not only in the emergency room, but also in gynecology, dermatology, ophthalmology, anesthesia. I arrived in June 2022 and the company had already had to evaluate the activation of contracts with doctor cooperatives, which are also present not only in our province. We had to call them because the alternative was the suspension of services. I underline that we have not given our services to external management, but rather integrated the professionals employed by the Local Health Authority in the Northern Area, always maintaining public guidance. The Mirandola emergency room recorded over 26 thousand visits in 2023, and the Carpi emergency room over 46 thousand. For this I thank the heads of the emergency room, all the professionals who work there and the director of the inter-company emergency department Geminiano Bandiera: they have done an excellent job.
We are gradually decreasing the use of cooperatives: compared to 2022, the shifts covered by them have dropped by 60%, but the path is not so immediate. In the meantime, calls for freelance contracts and hiring, both fixed-term and permanent, remain open”. Responding indirectly to the findings of the Court of Auditors regarding the budget, Petrini stated that, despite the well-known difficulties of public health, the The Modena Local Health Authority has a balanced 2023 budget, while the 2022 deficit had been covered by the Region.
“In addition to Covid costs not fully reimbursed by the State, we had to deal with inflation (+8% in 2022, +5% last year) and energy price increases. The allocations of the national health fund arrived on 21 December 2022 and 8 November 2023 respectively: it goes without saying that it is complex to manage without having a definitive count of the resources. Despite this, in 2023 we will record a 2.6% increase in production value, therefore financing and direct revenue”.
Director general he added that, even if Covid has not yet disappeared, the company is gradually returning to ordinary management and a recovery of activities is expected.
For example, last year the objective of increasing surgical activity by 7.5% was achieved and 80% of the operations expired in 2022 were provided in 2023. Outpatient surgery also increased (+8, 3%) and specialist (+2.2%). An extraordinary specialist plan will soon be ready to deal with pathologies such as diabetes and heart failure. Meanwhile, home-based activities have been strengthened, now active seven days a week (no longer five days a week), twelve hours a day, including a telephone triage function.
“It means – explained Petrini – that, in addition to scheduled visits, home patients and their family members or caregivers can receive telephone answers for any need”.
Finally, the ASL directorate recalled the new single medical emergency number (800 032 032), which can be called every day from 8pm to 8am, including holidays and days before holidays. He gets about 200 calls every night, over 800 on weekends.
“A doctor answers, so the citizen can have a qualified answer which – concluded Anna Maria Petrini – guarantees a solution to the problem in 65% of cases”.
