«Dear Union,
I would like to express my opinion immense, infinite gratitude to Professor Massimo Madonia, the Head Doctor of the Urological Clinic of Sassari, for the intervention he carried out to safeguard my healthand also to his staff, to all the clinic staff – doctors, paramedics, OSS – in short to everyone, everyone from A to Z, without exception.
I found the staff to be highly qualified, patient, kind, helpful, without ever a gesture or expression of discontent or annoyance, both during the day and night shifts.
Some might say: it’s their duty. Yes, but they go further: they work from the heart and you feel it immediately, from how you are welcomed, reassured, cared for. Thank you very much and a warm hug.
In fact, if I have any pebbles to remove from my shoe, it is not for them, but for the NHS and, in particular, Sardinian healthcare.
Obviously the situation is not attributable to the clinic, where it operates 7 days a week despite the lack of space, staff and tools: it is the system that pushes these Professionals with a capital P to have to break their backs to take care of their patients.
Although our Constitution speaks of equal rights to health and care for all Italian citizens, in a poor region like Sardinia you either go outside or risk dying on the waiting list. From the moment of diagnosis to surgery, I had to wait FIVE months, despite being registered as class A (within 30 days). Throughout this period, cancer patients are left to their own devices: talking about psychological support before surgery is pure utopia. You are left alone with your fears, doubts, uncertainties, desperations, while day after day, the calendar marches towards the unknown. Elsewhere in Italy, I know of friends to whom psychological help was instead offered immediately.
And even with all the managers for whom there is never a shortage of funds, the real staff, the ones who take care of the patients, must also come up against an omnipresent disorganization: medical records that are not communicated, unexpected visits (for the specialist) whose reason is not specified to him, unclear shifts, lack of communication not only between one structure and another, but between the different departments of the same clinic.
Not only that: at the time of resignation (which occurred days earlier than expected, partly thanks to the undisputed ability of Prof. Madonia, partly certainly to save on hospital stay), no information was given on the diet, on personal hygiene practices during the convalescence, on when, how much and how to exercise: only information on the medicines to take, on the dressing of the stitches, and a date for a check-up which is not even communicated to the doctor who will have to carry it out. As before the surgery, no psychological assistance while waiting for the results of the biopsy. All this is insufficient for a patient: the doctor placed the discharge paper on my bed while we were having lunch and immediately left to rush to the next patient. Ask whoever you want if you have doubts.
I don’t think that with continuous cuts in healthcare things will improve…
Once again, I want to clarify that I am not placing blame on the doctors, nurses and staff. Indeed, experiencing firsthand their humanity and the care they give to each patient as far as possible is even more impressive if you stop to think about what structural deficiencies they have to make up for. These people are truly our heroes and heroines, they deserve not only my heartfelt thanks, but also funds that allow them to be supported by colleagues with whom they can divide the work so that it is more humane for them too, and structures and tools that match their capabilities and patients’ needs.
Thank you, doctors, nurses and staff; a little less, fiscal federalism and the NHS. Why the root of the inequalities that we Italians find ourselves facing is all there.
PS: for the “virtuous” regions, which are convinced that they manage their health funds well, remember that the quality of a country’s health care is measured by the poorest and most peripheral areas. And that any region, as we have well seen, can find itself dependent not only on its neighbors, but also on foreign states. It’s good to remember this when we point the finger elsewhere.
Please, I ask you to omit my personal details, I didn’t write it to publicize myself, but to thank those who safeguarded my health.”
Signed letter
(*the details, to the knowledge of the editorial staff, are omitted in respect of privacy and in accordance with current legislation)
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