Regions in short order, new health plan urgently needed to reduce inequalities
President Aceti: 'We are faced with a complex and fragmented picture where there is a lack of vision, priorities and actions to relaunch the SSN in the coming years'
Key points
Italy is facing a crucial challenge for the future of the National Health Service. With a health plan stopped at 2006-2008 and an extension of the 2019-2021 Health Pact that does not address epidemiological-demographic and post-pandemic problems, the SSN needs an updated strategic vision to address territorial, social and access to care inequalities. This is the message that emerged from the third Salutequità Summit, according to which 'there are regional and local experiences that are proving to be precursors of responses to needs spread throughout the country and that represent interesting incubators of innovation'. An articulated and complex picture illustrated in a Report that takes stock of national and regional healthcare planning, highlighting that in 2024, about one in ten people (9.9%) forewent visits or specialist examinations due to long waiting lists (6.8%) and economic difficulties (5.3%), a phenomenon that is on the rise compared to 2023 (7.5%) and the pre-pandemic period (6.3% in 2019).
Aceti: complex and fragmented picture
"Our report highlights a complex and fragmented picture of healthcare planning in Italy," comments Tonino Aceti, president of Salutequità, "characterised by territorial, social and economic inequalities that compromise equity and timely access to healthcare services. The lack of a new national health plan - the last one dates back twenty years, to 2006-2008, despite being a legal requirement - together with the lack of homogeneity in the regional health plans demonstrate a lack of strategic vision, unity and coordination between the institutional levels of government of the SSN". The need to launch a new National Health Plan has been talked about for years now, Salutequità recalls, so much so that it is mentioned as one of the strategic actions to be implemented even in the last two Policy Acts of the Minister of Health, those relating to the years 2024 and 2025. To date, however, no text has yet been published or forwarded to the Conference of Regions. 'But writing a text is not enough,' Aceti points out. Who will approve it and with what timing? Parliament or the government together with the regions? Will the participation of all stakeholders, starting with patients' and citizens' associations, be guaranteed? Will it be linked to specific and binding resources for its implementation and to a clear timetable? Will it be subject to stringent monitoring? Will it be a social and health plan or once again just a health plan? Will it be a tool for routine maintenance or for implementing a transformative approach to the NHS? Investing over 142 billion euros in 2026 without a clear and far-sighted vision of the NHS would be a missed opportunity to modernise and strengthen our public health service'.
The Framework for Health Planning in the Regions
The survey on the Health Plans of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces by Salutequità shows that
- 10 regions have an integrated social and health plan.
- 16 regions had a Health or Social Plan approved before the pandemic.
