Court of Auditors: 'Disgraceful waiting lists in healthcare, focus on human capital of doctors and nurses'

"It is necessary to put the health professional (the doctor and the nurse) back at the centre of the 'health village' so that, adequately remunerated, they can be decisive in the decision-making and management processes of the structures deputed to care. The revaluation of human capital would also be functional in reducing the shameful, for a civilised country, phenomenon of waiting lists, while guaranteeing the best uniformity of services throughout the country'. This was said by the Attorney General of the Court of Auditors Pio Silvestri in his indictment at the Equalisation Judgement. "Precisely on the subject of the 'waiting lists' the agreement, which seems to have finally been reached in the State-Regions Conference, aimed at overcoming, hopefully definitively, the problem, is to be welcomed," he added.

The GDP forecasts contained in the Public Finance Document "appear agreeable in the perspective of a moderation phase in the economic cycle and in the quantification of the various downside risks associated with the adverse evolution of the assumptions made for the exchange rate, interest rates and oil prices. Downside risks that seem, however, to be accentuated in the light of the additional war scenarios that have opened up over the past month and that cannot fail to have an impact on the aforementioned exogenous variables, on world trade and ultimately on the possibilities for growth'. These are the words of Enrico Flaccadoro, Coordinating President of the Sezioni Riunite in sede di controllo of the Court of Auditors, in his report on the Equalisation Judgement for the financial year 2024.

"Significant are also the payments attributable in the financial year to the 'rottamazione quater' (5.4 billion, of which 3.2 billion tax). A result that, on the one hand, highlights a higher adhesion than expected at the time of the enactment of law 197/2022 and, on the other, confirms the certainly worrying size of the omitted payments of the declared amounts equal, in this case, to 49% of those already due at the end of 2024," added Flaccadoro.

"The complexity and diversification that currently characterise the system of anti-fraud controls of the European funds and the NRP make it useful to have a structural and systemic reflection at the national level," emphasised the Attorney General of the Court of Auditors Pio Silvestri in his indictment to the Judgment of Equalisation. 'It is desirable to make control procedures simpler and more standardised, both at national and European level, through less overlapping of competences, which would also increase the administrative capacity of the structures in charge of controls. In other respects,' he added, 'more organic monitoring and more defined rules on the eligibility of expenditure could create conditions of greater certainty for a more extensive and planned use of resources.

It is 'hoped that the further extension period' of beach concessions 'will actually be the last one and that scrupulous vigilance will be put in place during the tender phase to avoid, or at least contain, the infiltration of organised crime into the procedures. Constant synergy between the judiciary, administrative authorities and police forces will be needed'. This was said by the General Prosecutor of the Court of Auditors Pio Silvestri in his indictment at the Equalisation Judgement. "Awaiting an assessment by the European authorities, one must note the very little appreciation of the principle of the remunerative nature of the concession for the granting authority, a principle that," he emphasised, "would certainly not be out of step with public accounting legislation, which for active contracts requires recourse to public auction in order to maximise the revenue for the Treasury".