Long, exhausting, unnerving waits, waiting for your turn in the emergency room: it is the experience of many. But there is a but: data from Agenas, the National Agency for Health Services, say that one in four or five patients (i.e. 22%) are “improper” accesses, people who chose to go to the emergency and emergency service, but it was not necessary.
These are national figures, which the territorial structures of Monza and Brianza confirm: «Correspond» he says for example Tiziana Fraterrigo, director of the Vimercate emergency room and director of the medical department of Asst Brianza.
Emergency room in Monza and Brianza: data in Vimercate
Vimercate alone counted 70,794 accesses in 2023, more than 190 every dayand of these 616 were red codes (life threatening), 9,733 orange codes (very serious conditions), 24,180 blue codes (urgent but deferrable), 28,781 green codes (minor emergencies), 7,664 white codes (non-urgent). This year’s overall figures are similar if not better: in January 6,087 total, in February 6,273, in March 6,334, in April 6,558.
It is among the greens and the whites that the “improper” lurkthat is, those who could often go elsewhere without resorting to the emergency room: all the whites (who are then called to pay the ticket), often the greens. In a context of staff shortage, the result is one: clogged emergency room. On the contrary, “overcrowded”, as it says the Salutile app of the Lombardy Region where the people being assisted or waiting in the various emergency rooms and the codes assigned are present minute by minute.
Emergency room in Monza and Brianza: data from San Gerardo
The numbers are also supported by the other main emergency room in Monza and Brianza, that of San Gerardo (then include the Monza Polyclinic, the Zucchi Institutes – not evaluated by the app – Desio and Carate Brianza). Last year the total accesses to the Irccs service were 101,381 (276 per day)
Record numbers for an emergency room awaiting a project to expand the spaces available. In 2022 there were 92,891 accesses, in the first four months of this year they have already reached 34,495 with a peak of 9,007, never reached in the previous three years in the month of March.
Last year there were 2,829 red codes, equal to 2.79% of the total, and 20,504 yellow codes, i.e. 20.22%. Patients in the green code continue, as in every other national context, to be the prevalent percentage of accesses: in 2023 there were 45,211 equal to 44.6%.
After the green and yellow codes, the blue codes represent the largest portion of accesses. These are patients in a stable condition, but suffering and requiring further diagnostic investigations and complex visits. In 2023 there were 17,525 equal to 17.29%.
The percentage of white codes which certainly represent the improper use of the emergency room is also very high: they are patients with non-urgent problems who should have contacted their doctor. Last year there were 15,279, or 15.07% of accesses.
Emergency room in Monza and Brianza: waiting minutes
The consequence of the avoidable use of the emergency and urgency system it is calculated in terms of minutes: in Lombardy (no more discreet data exists) a patient with green code waits on average 247 minutes (four hours), the white codes, which are decidedly less, 153. According to Agenas, “by analyzing the patients who make improper access, we note that they are mainly men aged between 25 and 64, therefore “of working age”.
Always the agency: “The long wait represents one of the main problems of emergency services. On average (Italian, ed.), for a patient with a white code the wait before leaving the emergency room is 164 minutes while for those with a green code the wait rises to 229 minutes”.
