“We absolutely agree and are in line with the decree law on lists d’wait. Indeed, we find ourselves in many of what are now the national provisions: from the single CUP, for which Lombardy is the only Region which is currently working on the creation of an infrastructure that deals with both the public and private sectors, to the need to keep hospitals open even during weekends to expand the availability and offer of tests, analyzes , visits and also interventions, something on which we are already operational. Also with regards to the staff who are involved in these reduction initiatives lists d’wait we have decided to increase the emoluments, within the limits of what were our possibilities”. This was stated by the regional councilor for Welfare Guido Bertolaso commenting on the text of the act approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers. “From the point of view of the method, we can certainly discuss the procedure with which these indications were adopted which did not satisfy the Regions”.
Waiting lists: only one Cup in Lombardy and hospitals open on weekends
The Lombardy Region has launched multiple actions aimed at reducing lists d’wait and many of them are now being adopted nationwide. The latest action in chronological order is the allocation of over 61 million euros, which took place in April, to reduce the lists. Objective to guarantee over 7 million services (of which 2 million first visits) of those included in the National Management Plan Lists Of Wait (Pngla) by December 2024 and 1 million more services compared to the year 2023.
Extraordinary openings of clinics
The Region then provided for extraordinary openings of the clinics (from 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm) and on Saturdays, which all the public bodies in the Lombardy area participated in, with the opening of reservations in particular in the specialties of Radiology/Neuroradiology, Cardiology, Neurology, Endoscopy , Otolaryngology, Pneumology and Ophthalmology.
On the same occasion, the management methods by healthcare facilities of bookings with unavailability of the service within the expected timeframes were reiterated, providing that the facility takes action to identify other bodies (public or accredited private) in the area; insert the citizen into the list of wait to schedule the appointment within the timeframe and ultimately provide the service as a freelancer with costs at your own expense (excluding tickets). The hospital treatment path is also guaranteed by the healthcare institution in charge of the patient.
In April, compared to 2023, the outpatient production of public and private healthcare institutions increased by 11% (a figure not yet consolidated and therefore susceptible to further increases) with reference to the services covered by the national plan for the recovery of lists d’wait. In 2024, the overall percentage of compliance with the deadlineswait within threshold is 81%.
It should also be highlighted that in recent years recall/remind actions have been carried out to reduce the no-show phenomenon, specific places have been set aside for specialist outpatient clinics to take care of chronic patients, guidelines have been implemented aimed at institutions healthcare for the management of priority classes for outpatient diagnostics, increased the production capacity of diagnostic machines, carried out interventions on prescriptive appropriateness.
Digital services
Digital services for simplifying booking, cancellation and payment activities by citizens are already active, also directly via mobile phone apps. The monitoring system that allows the Region and individual companies to monitor the number of prescriptions, reservations and dispensing for each individual service has also already been implemented.
Single cup and waiting lists
In June 2023, the Lombardy Region launched the single CUP project which will allow the planning of the entire healthcare offer in Lombardy for accredited public and private providers (by the end of 2024 the activation of the new system will take place in 8 public healthcare institutions and 2 private healthcare institutions)
