Liguria. Regional councilor Paolo Ugolini (Mov5Stelle) presented a question in which he asked the council what urgent initiatives it will take to address the lack of OSS in Ligurian healthcare, in particular in ASL5, which is among the most lacking and the plan to guarantee new hirings of social and healthcare workers, drawing from the ranking of the latest competition, the deadline for which is scheduled for next September.
The councilor recalled that, according to the trade unions, there would be a shortage of around 800 units.
“We don’t have enough social and health workers in Liguria. Point. And the news that arrives daily from hospitals and private health facilities certifies the strain on the system to the detriment of hospitalized or treated citizens: the problem is serious and the Region should take action as soon as possible to satisfy Ligurian needs – declares the councilor regional of the M5S Paolo Ugolini -. The unions have been warning for some time that the regional shortage amounts to 800 operators.”
“For the Authority, however, the unions would be wrong: according to the competent councilor, the shortage stops at 328 units. We would like it to be true, but it is not so: nursing staff have long reported that they are forced to carry out tasks outside their competence, thus compromising the quality of primary care provided to patients, and to work understaffed, with emptied wards and a concrete risk to patients’ health. The councilor’s response, therefore, confirms our suspicions: the Region will indeed proceed with new recruitments but in numbers lower than needed” he concludes.
Health councilor Angelo Gratarola declared that, following the August 2022 test, the rankings divided by company were published and the current ranking, which expires on 8 September, still provides for 869 units distributed between ASL1, Local Health Authority2, Metropolitan Area and Local Health Authority4 and underlined that, with regards to the needs defined by Local Health Authorities and health bodies for the three-year period 2024-26, 328 units have been identified for 2024 based on the needs of each body. Als5 – he concluded – carried out its own competition.
“For the recruitment of OSS, the Liguria Region’s reference is the personnel needs plan defined by companies and healthcare bodies and for 2024 it indicates 328 units. The numbers provided by councilor Ugolini therefore do not correspond to what is expressed by the territory” reiterates Gratarola.
“Personnel is a topic that this administration pays attention to, proof of which is the 2023 competitions which, with permanent hires, made it possible to identify 1702 nurses and 828 OSS to be allocated to local health authorities and hospitals throughout Liguria”.
“The number of OSS hirings for the current year is therefore indicated in the Integrated Activity and Organization Plans (PIAO) which companies and institutions define on the basis of the needs of the various structures and the number of units for which the termination of service” he concludes
