A new model for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases
For centuries
people's health has been entrusted to the doctor's wisdom, his knowledge of medicine, but also to the patient's intuition and wise common sense. Scientific progress and technology have been of great help, especially in recent decades, and have enabled achievements that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Along with the great achievements, modern medicine has, however, led to an increasing specialisation of skills and, with them, also to an increasing fragmentation of care often experienced by the sick as an obstacle course, between waiting lists for simple diagnostic examinations or the difficulties of admission to hospital.
And so in our country we live in an era where the progressive ageing of the population and the increase in migration flows create growing health needs that undermine the sustainability of the National Health System. It is no coincidence that the difficulties of access to care, especially in the suburbs and outside urban centres, and the lack of a real reference point at the various stages of treatment (examinations, therapies and admissions) create growing tension and intolerance among the sick and their families. The sickness of the patients is compounded by that of the health personnel, doctors and nurses, who are called upon to endure stressful, sometimes unbearable work rhythms.
At the same time, and this is not a contradiction, it is precisely the National Health Service that holds up thanks to the passion and spirit of sacrifice of those who work in it and care for it to maintain a model of public care, almost unique in the world, based on the principles of Universality (Health for all), Equity (equal access for equal needs) and Gratuity (Health as a universal good that cannot be sold).
However, in the face of the major changes that have taken place in just under 50 years, this model is no longer sustainable without a profound review of itself. I do not speak of reform because reforms are usually associated with institutional reforms, or they arouse strong suspicions because of the retrospective thought that someone will lose out: here it is a question of going to the root, of understanding that the current model of care, based on the succession of individual services, is no longer economically sustainable and now leaves several million people out of care (a potentially explosive problem, with unforeseeable social consequences). Reliance on fee-for-service health care widens the gap between those who can guarantee their health and those who cannot, in a vicious circle that does not seem to stop even after the recent increases in public funding and measures in favour of health policies.
