SANTARELLI: “the Marche Region guarantees fewer services and there is a shortage of 1300 nurses and over 500 doctors”
Waiting lists: increasingly serious situation. “The ARS data, processed by Ires Cgil, on waiting lists are not as reassuring as the Region wants us to believe; the reality is very different”, reports Loredana Longhin, regional secretary of the CGIL Marche.
THE DATA – The data demonstrate that, for both priority classes under study (B i.e. Short with booking guaranteed within 10 days, and D i.e. Deferred with booking guaranteed within 30 days for visits and 60 days for instrumental exams), it is found an actual increase in demand between the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods, i.e. between 2019 and 2023 bookings referring to the total of services with priority class B increased by 24.6% and those with priority class D increased observed an increase of 8.4%.
However, also due to a decrease in bookings guaranteed on time, there has been a decline in the system’s ability to guarantee the right timing of bookings based on their priority. In particular, while in 2019 87.6% of class B bookings were guaranteed within the maximum deadline, in 2023 only 66.5%. For those with priority D, the rate went from 87.1% in 2019 to 70% in 2023. As can be seen, therefore, the system’s capacity has suffered a decline.
The same analysis can also be found by taking the latest available period as reference (January-April 2024) and comparing it with the same period in 2019, focusing attention on the performance relating to visits. For example, if in 2019 89.9% of class B bookings for cardiology visits were guaranteed on time, in 2024 the percentage drops to 56.1%.
Also in this case, faced with the increase in demand, the system was unable to guarantee adequate coverage for the real needs of citizens.
THE ANALYSIS – Giuseppe Santarelli, general secretary of CGIL Marche, declares: “The reforms prepared by the Acquaroli council are leaking from all sides: two years after law 19 which was supposed to reorganize the entire healthcare system, let’s see how much difficulty the Ast have in carrying out the their tasks and so is the social health plan which, in fact, has not changed anything. Even the national decree on waiting lists will not produce effects because there are no resources for staff.” According to estimates by the FP Cgil, “in the Marche region, there is a shortage of at least 1300 nurses, 560 doctors, 800 social health workers and 70 radiology technicians. The Marche health system needs a new strategy and organization.”
For Loredana Longhin, “the work carried out by the Ars is precious despite being undersized and, with the reform of law 19, also weakened in its role. In any case, the Region’s solutions to solve the problem are insufficient and do not convince us. The 13 million that the Region has available this year to reduce waiting lists are not enough, the Council must provide additional resources as other Regions are doing”.
