Doctors and nurses: pay rises in pay packets and 7,000 hirings to start
Health gains an extra 2.4 billion in 2026, bringing the National Health Fund with the resources already allocated by last year's manoeuvre to almost 143 billion
The health sector will gain an extra 2.4 billion euro in 2026, thus bringing the National Health Fund, with the resources already allocated by last year's manoeuvre (3.7 billion euro), close to 143 billion euro, and will have a further 2.65 billion euro in both 2027 and 2028. The extra resources will be used first and foremost for recruitment and to increase the wages of doctors and nurses, increasing the specificity allowance. On the first front, however, compared to the eve of the event, when a much more robust three-year recruitment plan of 25-30 thousand new recruits was imagined, the numbers have been reduced to 6300 new nurses and about a thousand doctors, in practice just over 7 thousand new health workers to be hired thanks to the 450 million euro 'reserved' in the budget law from 2026 onwards.
Even if yesterday the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci relaunched by stressing that nurses are "at the centre of the manoeuvre" and that "20,000 more will be hired with respect to the natural turnover". An additional objective that could be achieved with the resources that the Regions can free up in their budgets provided that they have their accounts in order, as the manoeuvre also reiterates. Even if yesterday the governor of the Vincenzo De Luca spoke of unacceptable numbers: "In Campania alone we would need 18,000 nurses".
Sul fronte degli aumenti di stipendio la manovra stanzia 280 milioni per potenziare ancora di più l'indennità di specificità di medici e infermieri, una voce che era già stata finanziata l'anno scorso e così nel 2026 i camici bianchi avranno complessivamente grazie anche agli aumenti della manovra del 2025 circa 3mila euro lorde in più in busta paga - 230 euro lordi al mese - mentre gli infermieri vedranno aumentare lo stipendio di 1630 euro lordi l'anno (circa 125 lordi al mese): in particolare la manovra di quest'anno stanzia 85 milioni per i camici bianchi, una cifra che assicura circa 700 euro in più (55 euro lorde al mese) per raggiungere i 3mila euro complessivi già detti, mentre 195 milioni serviranno per le indennità degli infermieri, anche qui i soldi in più sono circa 700 euro lorde l'anno che faranno raggiungere appunto un aumento complessivo di 1630 euro lordi all'anno. Le Regioni potranno anche aumentare la parte variabile degli stipendi di chi lavora nei pronto soccorso.
The draft of the manoeuvre also envisages funding of EUR 100 million in 2026 and EUR 183 million from 2027 to initiate the adjustment of outpatient tariffs at the centre of appeals to the TAR (Regional Administrative Tribunal) that have rejected the new tariff schedule. Additional funds are also available for hospital tariffs (Drg) already increased by EUR 1 billion for 2026 and EUR 1.350 billion from 2027. To reduce waiting lists, the expenditure ceiling for the purchase of services from accredited private providers is also increased by one point.
On the drugs front, the manoeuvre raises the spending caps on pharmaceuticals by 0.25% (0.20% for direct purchases and 0.05% for contracted pharmaceuticals), while also abolishing the payback on contracted pharmaceuticals. Yesterday, however, the pharmaceutical industries immediately called for a further reduction in the payback on direct purchases, as well as a value-based system "that would make it possible to structurally overcome this unfair mechanism". For Farmindustria, "the overall result" that emerges from the draft budget law "is still not fully sufficient for Italy to remain attractive for investment and innovation and to maintain its leadership in Europe". "To protect these primacies and allow the sector to remain competitive," Farmindustria concludes, "it is essential to raise the direct spending cap by 1%".
