An accredited private patient cannot require their GP to prescribe a particular treatment
The Lazio Regional Council’s resolution authorising the booking of services provided by a healthcare professional unable to issue electronic prescriptions has been rejected
Key points
Lazio Regional Council Resolution No. 1344 of 30 December 2025 (Guidelines on the correct procedure for prescribing and redefining the scope of coverage for the purposes of managing waiting lists) is unlawful insofar as it states that a doctor practising in an accredited private facility, who is unable to issue electronic prescriptions, shall nevertheless arrange for the service to be booked, delegating the ‘formalisation of the prescription’ to the general practitioner.
The terms of the judgement
A different solution would be at odds with:
- the National Collective Agreement for General Practitioners, which, with regard to prescribing, stipulates that “A doctor may issue a prescription for medication and refer a patient for specialist investigations even in the patient’s absence when, in their judgement, they consider a consultation with the patient to be unnecessary” (Article 45, paragraph 4);
- the position of the Constitutional Court according to which a healthcare professional, forced to adopt a standardised protocol regardless of the specific circumstances of the case, is deprived of any professional autonomy in devising the appropriate treatment for the medical condition they are called upon to address (judgement No. 151 of 8 May 2009). Thus, “the fundamental principle must be the autonomy and responsibility of the doctor who, with the patient’s consent, makes the necessary professional decisions” (judgement No. 169 of 12 July 2017).
In this regard, the Rome Regional Administrative Court (judgement no. 11984 of 2026) upheld the appeal lodged by the provincial medical and dental associations of the Lazio Region, which had sought the annulment of the regional resolution.
