Sassari All is well or almost as long as it concerns “short” class B visits, within 10 days, all very bad when we move on to “deferrable” and “programmable” ones. This is the extreme summary of the latest monitoring of the waiting lists of the regional health system carried out in May. With a note: the paradox of visits with the lowest priority (120 days) being assigned before the priority ones (60) continues unabated.
Good in priority B The latest data tables published on the Sardegna Salute website line up the accounting of the waiting lists for the various healthcare companies and hospitals on the island. As regards the numbers in priority B (with appointment to be assigned within 10 days) at the regional system level it can be said that they border on perfection. Things change if we consider what happens within the individual local health authorities. In fact, for some services, the times imposed by the regulations are significantly exceeded. The worst case concerns the ASL 4 of Ogliastra, which exceeds the time limit for endocrinological visits (164 days), ophthalmology (180), urology (61) and physiatry (159) well beyond the limit.
The paradox There is an anomaly on the island’s waiting lists that has been going on on the island for some time now. This is a real paradox between the waiting times in D and P priorities, i.e. the “deferrable” ones (30 days for visits and 60 for instrumental tests) and the “programmable” ones (within 120 days). Well, 26 specialist services out of the 64 mapped by the National Waiting List Management Plan (Pngla) offer shorter times in the lowest priority P than in the D, theoretically more urgent one. A bizarre situation that had already been highlighted by the Court of Auditors in the report of 11 September 2023 and which, evidently, continues today.
The borderline cases Among the tables published on Sardegna Salute there are also those referring to individual local health authorities. And here, the numbers highlight borderline situations. As regards priority classes D and P, in fact, there are two records which, coincidentally, concern the same type of examination: cardiac Doppler echo. A “schedulable” class appointment at Arnas Brotzu is assigned in 665 days. In Sulcis, however, 638 are needed in the “deferrable” class. Another important data concerns the timing of colonoscopy with a flexible endoscope: 771 days in ASL 7 of Sulcis and 710 in ASL 8 of Cagliari, both in priority P. For the same exam it takes, in class D, 514 days at Brotzu and 426 at the ASL 3 of Nuoro.
