Six out of ten citizens give up treatment because of waiting lists. The CISL presented the results of a survey which involved over 11,500 members from Lombardy, which revealed a difficulty in accessing health services. «The data collected highlights renunciations of treatment due to excessively long waiting times – explains the CISL – Difficulty in accessing specialist visits, diagnostic tests and hospitalizations as well as deficiencies in home care. Over six in ten have given up treatment sometimes or often in the last year. Only one interviewee in five with incomes over 50 thousand euros has given up on treatment, compared to the refusal of treatment by two in three in families with incomes of less than 15 thousand euros. Waiting times are the main reason. Almost one in two interviewees gave up treatment for economic reasons and over four in ten for the physical or organizational inconvenience of the healthcare facilities.” 80% of those interviewed have carried out at least one specialist visit in the last twelve months, of which 60% were in private facilities, more than half of the citizens paid out of their own pocket. «Of those who received paid outpatient services – we read in the document – eight out of ten made use of private (or affiliated) structures, the remaining part benefited from freelance services (paid) in public structures. Similarly, among those who carried out at least one test in 2023, one in three went to private facilities affiliated with the health service and almost one in four carried out tests in the private sector. Of those who have paid for instrumental diagnostic services, more than eight out of ten have resorted to private services.”
Hospitalizations involved just over 10% of the sample, seven out of ten hospitalizations were in public facilities. Hospitalizations in the private sector affiliated with the health service were 24.7%, 4.5% were paid hospitalizations in the private sector.
“The maximum waiting time foreseen by the priority code indicated in the doctor’s request was not respected in almost half of the specialist visits with urgent priority. For the short and deferrable priorities, the failure to respect the waiting time was greater in 40% of the cases. The maximum waiting times in 44.5% of the tests indicated as urgent were not respected. For the tests with priority at ten days and for those with priority at sixty days, the provision was subsequent, respectively, in 40.3% and 18% of the cases. In scheduled hospitalizations, 74.5% respected the priority classes, one in four did not. The waiting time in the Emergency Room between the patient’s admission to the ward was on average eight hours, with peaks of up to 48 hours.”
Each family spent 951 euros in 2023 for visits, tests and hospitalizations, 1,184 for drugs, dentists and physiotherapy. A figure that is constantly increasing and for many increasingly less sustainable.
Coming to the survey sample, more than half of the interviewees have at least one chronic pathology, 25% two or more. Specifically, among chronic patients, one in two has given up treatment for economic or logistical reasons, two out of three due to the wait. 7.2% made use of home care, nine out of ten as caregivers and according to what was reported «although the opinions were rather positive overall, they were critical regarding the waiting times».
