Schillaci: ‘Community care homes mark a turning point for the NHS; the budget includes more funding for doctors and nurses’
How the health service is changing following the opening of the new local healthcare facilities. The meeting with the Minister for the Economy, Giorgetti, at the end of July
‘The initiatives taken by some regions, such as Lombardy, to set up ‘cold spots’ within community centres are very positive. This is a useful initiative that combines the need to protect the most vulnerable and the elderly – a need that will become more pressing with the third heatwave – with the opportunity to make use of these innovative facilities, which can provide support: they are not just a place to cool down, but also offer medical consultations, thereby preventing overcrowding in A&E departments”. For Health Minister Orazio Schillaci, the heatwave alert could serve as a valuable ‘baptism of fire’ for the more than 1,200 new community centres set up to provide citizens with ‘modern healthcare that is closer to the people’.
How important are they?
I believe they represent a real turning point for the National Health Service because what has been lacking so far – and this became clear during the Covid pandemic – was precisely community healthcare. Just in the last few days, figures have been released showing how Italia has lost so many hospital beds; a cut that has been particularly felt precisely because facilities like these were lacking.
The South, however, is lagging behind.
Unfortunately, there are still too many differences between the North and the South, which is why we are supporting the regions at this stage, even though they have made great progress in recent months. For me, this disparity in access to healthcare remains the most serious problem facing the Italian healthcare system: it is unacceptable, because everyone should have the same access to treatment regardless of where they live or how much they earn.
