ASL Pescara: the crisis of nursing and health personnel in Abruzzo, healthcare in collapse
Pescara – The healthcare situation in Abruzzo has been at the center of a heated debate for some time. Complaints regarding the shortage of nursing staff and health and social workers (OSS) are commonplace, but answers seem to be slow in arriving. Antonio Argentini, territorial secretary of NurSind Pescara, has launched a new appeal to institutions and the press, highlighting an alarming reality.
“The serious shortage of nursing and OSS staff has been reported for some time,” Argentini declared, “but the Company does not even deign to draw from the rankings still in force and available.” The criticism aimed at the health authorities is clear and direct, underlining how solutions are within reach but inexplicably ignored.
Argentini does not spare criticism even on the financial management of regional healthcare. “Do you perhaps think that the financial disaster currently weighing on Abruzzo’s healthcare system, the causes of which are largely unjustifiable, can be resolved by not renewing the roles of healthcare personnel at the relevant deadlines?” he asked rhetorically, placing emphasis on a choice that he considers unsustainable and counterproductive.
The situation is made even more critical by the workload weighing on the current operators. “Do you believe that solutions such as further burdening staff already burdened with double shifts, excessive night shifts (nurses over sixty), or skipping rest breaks will not cause resentment, disaffection and reaction from the workers?” added Argentini, predicting an even more uncertain future for the regional healthcare system. “In the end, the collapse of the entire health system and of many health facilities, especially those in the suburbs, already heavily penalized, will be inevitable.”
The appeal of the territorial secretary of NurSind Pescara is clear and decisive: “Hire the necessary staff, strengthen the structures, de-bureaucratize them, improve organizational and coordination capacity, manage fairly, make the staff proud, enhance their potential!” His words sound like an urgent call for intervention to save a healthcare system in crisis.
The questions posed by Argentini require immediate and concrete answers from the institutions. Public health cannot wait and the well-being of health workers is essential to guarantee an efficient and humane service.
