Rome, 24 May – While the Minister of Health announces the now imminent presentation, in the session of the Council of Ministers on 3 June, of his decree to combat the problem of waiting lists, last 21 May, as per the resolution of the Once arrived, the Umbria Region gave the operational go-ahead to the structural plan for the reduction of waiting lists, which follows the extraordinary 2023 intervention which allowed the disposal of the approximately 80 thousand services inherited in the post-Covid period.
The regional administration, according to a press release from the Regional Council, having noted that the number of health services to be provided varies between 40 and 55 thousand units depending on the survey period, and deeming this number unsatisfactory for citizens’ expectations , has outlined an ordinary plan which on the one hand is able, also through additional services paid to public health personnel, to provide internally for the growing demand of users, and on the other reduces the previous situation again thanks to the contribution of affiliated structures, therefore without any cost for citizen users.
The Structural Plan was also necessary in light of a framework which sees the production capacity of the public system returning after much work almost in line with pre-Covid (to date -11%), but which at the same time records, compared to then, a significant increase in citizens’ requests for services. Services which in almost half of the cases concern users without exemptions, therefore not chronic and fragile, and therefore probably attributable to first accesses.
From the analysis of the data it appears that the history, 80% of which is made up of requests deferred to 30 and 60 days, mainly concerns gastroenterology, ophthalmology and dermatology exams and only 20% dates back to 2023, while the remainder belongs to current year, demonstrating a real recovery of the old services to be provided.
The plan to reduce and contain waiting lists becomes operational after a detailed discussion phase with general practitioners, public and private pharmacists, representatives of specialist doctors and healthcare and non-healthcare personnel, as it is believed that only a decisive and synergistic action by the entire Umbrian healthcare system can lead to a structural improvement of a problem that affects the entire country.
A further meeting is scheduled in a month in which the first data will be analyzed in order to test the efficiency of the Plan itself and any corrections to be made.
