Doctors against differentiated autonomy: 'NHS at risk, professions remain exclusive to the state'
For the Medical Association, the regulation of the professions, training, qualification and supervision must remain uniform and homogenous in the interests of the public and the safety of care
The National Council of the Fnomceo, the Order of Physicians, in a motion that has just been approved, takes the field against autonomy, expressing "strong concern" for the possible developments in the process of differentiated autonomy, following the recent approval of the preliminary agreement schemes just signed with Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto. In particular, the Fnomceo expresses 'clear opposition' to the hypothesis of devolving to the regions the matter of the health professions, an area that the Constitution and the constitutional jurisprudence recalled in the motion attribute exclusively to the State. In short, the organisation of the professions, training, qualification and supervision of the Orders must remain unified and homogeneous, in the interest of citizens and the safety of care. The implicit concern is that the motion opens the door to different rules and perhaps even different salaries for doctors between the regions with differentiated autonomy and all the others.
In particular, in its motion, the National Federation of the Order of Surgeons and Dentists expresses first of all 'great concern that, in the process of implementing the rules on differentiated autonomy, the uniqueness of the NHS will be compromised in the absence of a profound revision of the Ministry of Health as the guarantor of equality of citizens in the face of health, pursuant to Article 3 of the Constitution. And it considers 'the further accentuation of regional autonomy in the area of health protection to be a further factor that could increase the inequalities in health care that have been present in the country for some time and that, in these twenty years of regional health care, have not found adequate solutions'. The Fnomceo also recalls how the professions are "the backbone of the country in that they guarantee constitutionally protected rights to all Italians and to every individual in Italia through their competences" and how "autonomy in the ordering of the professions can lead to confusion and inefficiency due to the diversity of possible practices".
This being the case, the Fnomceo has requested that the "preliminary agreement with Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto for the attribution of further special forms and conditions of autonomy be "expunged" from the drafts of the formula "the professions", as recalled by constitutional jurisprudence "in order to guarantee homogeneity in the recognition of qualifying qualifications also in relation to the international mobility of professionals". And therefore mandates the Fnomceo Central Committee to "implement every initiative of confrontation and proposal with the Government and the Regions to represent what has been mentioned".
There is great concern that, in the process of implementing the rules on differentiated autonomy, the uniqueness of the SSN will be compromised in the absence of a thorough overhaul of the Ministry of Health as the guarantor of citizens' equality in the face of health, pursuant to Article 3 of the Constitution.
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