The loss of 126 million with which the Asuc balance sheet closed is a very worrying figure. Even more worrying, however, if this were the alibi for “corporate readings and ideological positions”, forgetting what should be the real priority: “Identifying the tools to give the most effective response to the population’s demand for health and assistance and in particular the vulnerable groups.” This is supported by Andrea Traunero, general secretary of the CGIL public function of Udine, asking that a discussion be opened on the topic «capable of identifying the right balances and measures capable of guaranteeing the stability and efficiency of the socio-health system, without limiting – he adds – to a cold and partial analysis, based on only three indices: personnel costs, pharmaceutical and disability spending».
Therefore, no to pure and simple spending review logic, such as those that have always characterized approaches focused on pharmaceutical spending: «If the objective of rationalizing spending and eliminating waste is right and acceptable – declares the secretary of the FP –, it is not we must never forget that behind the increased consumption of drugs there are structural causes such as the aging of the population and the increase in chronically ill people.” Even less convincing for FP are the solutions proposed by those who hypothesize greater use of forms of flexibility to contain personnel spending. «Looking at over 255 thousand hours of overtime – comments Traunero – and at the over 240 thousand days of holiday accrued and not taken in 2023, there can only be one answer: we have already given. The solution is not to make staff work harder, but to make them work better and with a better conciliation between private life and work, to make healthcare professions attractive again, reduce the physical, psychological and emotional stress of workers, curb the escape from public health”.
As for the issue of services for disabled people, the future is more worrying than the present. «The innovations introduced by regional law 16/2022 – according to Traunero – will lead to significant changes to the co-financing of the sector by the health service and local authorities, with the risk of leaving many users at an impasse». But the disabled issue, for the CGIL, refers to a more general consideration on the future of the public socio-health system: «If the quality of life of the weakest groups is a crucial indicator of the health of our society, what we have before our eyes and what appears in the future is certainly not an encouraging picture for our healthcare and our welfare system: all the more reason, therefore, the acknowledgment of heavy deficits such as that of the Asufc should not be the alibi for solutions of corporate type, but the push for an adequate policy of strengthening and strengthening our social and healthcare service. Which, unfortunately, has long ceased to be an excellence, because it is underfinanced, the victim of bad planning and a continuous drain of resources towards the private sector, which instead thrives”.
