Massimo Fabi, general director of the healthcare companies of Parma, spoke clearly, invited to the council commission of the Municipality to explain the plan for recovering waiting times for outpatient specialists, i.e. specialist visits and instrumental tests which too often require much longer waits than those envisaged by the regional protocols, which heavily influence citizens’ judgment on public health services, even if we are not talking about life-saving interventions.
The problem «is national – explained Fabi – it is a widespread criticality, determined by structural deficiencies, which require radical innovation interventions and above all the allocation of adequate economic resources if the survival of the universal healthcare system is not to be seriously compromised. We need human resources, technical structures and system interventions.”
In Parma, 90 percent of services are guaranteed within the expected timescales (30 for the first visit and 60 days for instrumental tests), but there are critical situations in various sectors: ophthalmology, endocrinology, dermatology, gynecology and pneumology. The difficulties also derive in part from the fact that more and more doctors are choosing the private sector, resulting in staff shortages in the public service. But it’s not so much the doctors who are worrying: «In three years – Fabi clarifies – an excess of doctors is expected, but there will be serious problems from a nursing point of view, with the risk that our healthcare system will remain unprotected. For doctors – the director insisted – the real emergency is in the emergency room due to a vocational crisis caused by working conditions and financial treatment. In Parma there were 32 doctors in the emergency room, today there are 18. It can also be explained by the fact that a general practitioner has triple the income of someone who works in the emergency.”
To reduce the waiting lists in Parma, visits and diagnostic tests will increase by 17 percent, specialists will prescribe the necessary services, closed diaries will be abolished, and overbooking of appointments will also be resorted to, given the high rate of waivers.
In the event of long delays, “prelists” will be made to verify the urgency of the services with the general practitioner. A communication plan is foreseen to guarantee transparency and regain the trust of citizens. And we will try once again to keep cars out of the hospital. Councilor Ettore Brianti and several councilors spoke on the topic, including doctors Nouvenne and Pallini, who underlined the need to regain the trust and collaboration of citizens, integrate the hospital and the territory and create the conditions to make Parma attractive for healthcare workers.
Antonio Bertoncini
