Schillaci: funding for mental health has been reinstated; the National Health Plan will be in place by the summer

“We signed the decree allocating the funds from the Mental Health Plan to the regions just last week. The measure is currently being reviewed by the Ministry of the Economy and will shortly be forwarded to the State-Regions Conference.” This was stated by the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, in his address to the Senate for the presentation of the National Mental Health Plan 2025–2030, thanking “the ministry’s technical staff, the experts on the working group led by Professor Siracusano and Professor Nicolò, who worked very swiftly on the decree and made it possible to achieve this result so quickly”. The plan, approved in December, the minister noted, can count on additional funding on top of existing mental health resources amounting to €80 million for 2026, €85 million for 2027, €90 million for 2028 and €30 million from 2029 onwards, to be disbursed on a structural basis. “Of these funds,” he emphasised, “€30 million a year is earmarked for staff-related costs, because obviously without staff it is difficult to implement a strategic plan like this.”

For Schillaci, this decree offers “truly significant” added value: it does not allocate resources indiscriminately, but rather ties funding to the achievement of priority objectives identified by the Ministry in the field of prevention, an issue that has become central to healthcare provision. “There is also a regular, targeted monitoring system to enable access to the plan’s resources and also to the incentive funds from the National Health Fund,” he noted. There are concrete objectives that address the most common mental health needs, which must be identified before they develop into more serious forms of mental distress. I am thinking in particular of the attention given to early screening from the first trimester of pregnancy to provide timely support for women at potential risk of developing postpartum depression. I am also thinking of the care provided for younger people, adolescents, which will be delivered through an integrated and comprehensive regional network of services dedicated specifically to the delicate transition, as mentioned earlier, from childhood to adulthood. It is a crucial period in the life of every young person, one which today, more than ever, causes disorientation, fear and often a sense of inadequacy. Until now, there have been no answers.”

In short, with this implementing decree, women and young people are once again at the heart of the Ministry’s work. “We therefore have earmarked resources,” Schillaci reiterated, “shared objectives, timetables and assessments of staffing needs, all aimed at reducing inequalities and regional disparities, because, as I always say, the right to healthcare – and therefore also the right to mental health – must be truly guaranteed to everyone; it cannot depend on one’s place of residence or an individual’s income.”

The Health Minister also announced progress on the National Health Plan, 20 years on from the last one. “I hope to have it approved before the summer,” he said. The National Health Plan (NHP) is the government’s multi-year policy and general guidance framework for the National Health Service, aimed at defining the objectives and strategies to meet the population’s health needs in terms of prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and healthcare, to be applied uniformly across the whole country. Although the law provides for the adoption of a three-year National Health Plan, the last one approved dates back to 2006–2008. Since then, planning has been carried out through other policy instruments.