Family doctors: 6% increase for 60,000 doctors now closer to community homes

The National Collective Agreement 2022-2024 for general medicine has been renewed. The final go-ahead came today in the State-Regions Conference, after the approval of the agreement hypothesis last 5 November in Sisac and the approval of the Court of Auditors. For the 60,000 general practitioners - including family doctors, doctors of the territory and continuity of care (medical guards, 118) - the new contract provides for an average salary increase of 5.78% for the three-year period.

The new national collective agreement that has come to fruition brings in EUR 300 million per year. In economic terms, this translates into an overall increase in remuneration of close to 6 per cent. Approximately 70 per cent of the increase is allocated to fixed capitated and hourly fees, while the remaining 30 per cent goes into a fund for the activities of the functional territorial aggregations (AFTs), which is paid to doctors based on the achievement of objectives. Any unused resources of the fund will be reinvested in further projects, so as to avoid dispersion and maximise the impact on territorial care. The contract also marks a further step towards the integration of contracted personnel in the new Community Homes financed by the NRP - more than one thousand are scheduled to open by June 2026 -, with adjustments in line with the process of their inclusion in the organisation of the new facilities. The rapid conclusion of the negotiations was made possible by a streamlined negotiating framework, focused on adjusting the economic part and improving some contractual institutes, also adjusted to the intervening regulatory changes.

On the regulatory side, the agreement introduces targeted corrections in anticipation of a broader organisational revision in the next renewal. Among the priorities are greater flexibility for newly appointed doctors and specific forms of support for doctors in training holding temporary appointments, in order to facilitate entry and permanence in the primary care network. Attention is also paid to greater collaboration between the various branches with a reminder of the responsibility of direct prescription of examinations and check-ups, which must be appropriate by all the doctors involved in the process, including specialists. "We promised ourselves to close this renewal quickly and we have done so," said Marco Alparone, President of the Regions-Health Sector Committee. "The priority was to give an initial response to the many proximity doctors who were waiting for a salary adjustment, and then to focus on the more complex aspects in the 2025-2027 contractual round, on which we are already at work." "We are aware that family doctors represent a fundamental access point to care: the proper functioning and effectiveness of the entire national health system depends on them. With today's agreement we are moving towards the recognition of a multi-professional and multidisciplinary model capable of responding to new health needs in line with the new structure of territorial healthcare," Alparone clarified.