Elderly people cared for at home, Tuscany meets and exceeds the target for 2023

The number of elderly people aged over sixty-five assisted at home for their health problems is growing and Tuscany is one of the regions that marks one of the most important increases at a national level in percentage terms compared to the 2023 objectives. This is certified by the latest Agenas report, l National Agency for regional health services, on the progress of the line of intervention of mission 6 of the Pnrr “Home as the first place of care (Adi)” which envisages, by 2026, the care of 800 thousand new patients over 65 , i.e. 10 percent of the Italian population over sixty-five years old.

At an Italian level, the expected increase for 2023 was 526 thousand new patients, a target which was exceeded by almost three thousand units. For Tuscany the assigned target was 26,595 more patients, a threshold well exceeded. In 2023 the number of people assisted has in fact grown by around 12 thousand units with a percentage increase of 144 percent. In the end there were 38,302 new patients, equal to 11.92 percent of the over-65 population: a number that places Tuscany at the top nationally.

The president of the Tuscany Region and the councilor for the right to health comment positively on the data, which demonstrates the quality of the work being carried out in Tuscany. However, they underline the need for greater national resources to invest in this sector, which is of fundamental importance in the face of the changing needs of the population that we are witnessing. People need greater proximity and proximity to care, but the national resources allocated to Tuscany have been lower than those allocated to other regions. The distribution was based on the distance from the target for home care. Tuscany already has the highest levels of assistance in the country, together with Veneto and Emilia Romagna, it has received less funding than other regions.

Home care is one of the fundamental services of the reorganization of territorial healthcare aimed at elderly, frail or sick people who need care and can be cared for at home close to their family. It includes medical, nursing, rehabilitation and social care services directly at the patient’s home.

There are 967,750 (among them 528,220 are over 75 years old) elderly people over sixty-five who live in Tuscany and of these 113,853 are cared for at home.