The healthcare sector takes to the streets on 5 December to “defend the future of the National Health Service”

A joint demonstration in Rome on 5 December “to defend the right to healthcare and the future of the National Health Service”. Men and women working in the public health sector will be taking part: doctors, vets, nurses, midwives, other healthcare professionals, technicians, administrative staff, students, medical and non-medical postgraduate trainees, and researchers, together with their professional and trade union representatives. A united front, the organisations announce, “without any distinction based on role, category or affiliation”. The march will set off at 3.00 pm from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II and end in Via dei Fori Imperiali.

A united front, explain the organisers – comprising 27 trade unions and associations – “without distinction as to role or trade union affiliation, is taking to the streets to defend the right to healthcare and the future of the National Health Service”. The NHS, they assert, “belongs to everyone: to those who provide care every day and to those who need to be cared for. Today, this common good has been weakened by years of policies characterised by insufficient investment in public health and a failure to value staff in hospitals, outpatient clinics, community healthcare, training and research. It is the public – that is, all of us – who are paying the price”. And further: “To those who work and study in healthcare, we say: you are not alone. To those awaiting an appointment, hospital admission or care, we say: it cannot be a lottery. Health cannot depend on income or postcode: there is a right to care and a right to provide care”. On 5 December, the joint statement reads, “the public healthcare sector will make its voice heard, demonstrating with pride in being the National Health Service and with the firm conviction that the system must be defended and strengthened. Driving this mobilisation are the hope and determination to make all this possible once again, because we are – and always will be – the National Health Service.” The initiative is open to all citizens who wish to take to the streets “to defend public healthcare”.

In recent days, there have been numerous calls from within the healthcare sector to amend the 2027 Budget Bill whilst it is going through Parliament, in order to increase funding for the National Health Service. Leading the call is the Federation of the Order of Doctors (Fnomceo), which, during its hearing in the Chamber of Deputies on the Budget Bill, called for an additional ten billion euros to safeguard the public health service. Without adequate funding, “the right to health becomes merely a theoretical guarantee”; for this reason, “the text of the budget must be amended”, stated Filippo Anelli, president of Fnomceo, during a hearing before the joint Budget Committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. He expressed his support for the position unanimously adopted by the Conference of Regions in favour of corrective action. Anelli acknowledged the increase in the National Health Fund included in the budget, “however, the size of the allocations cannot be the sole criterion for assessing the budget’s effectiveness: it is necessary to ascertain – he noted – how many resources are actually available to strengthen services, recruit staff and reduce waiting times for treatment”. Hence the proposal for a 10-point plan to revitalise the healthcare system, addressing issues from waiting lists to staff shortages, and the call to establish a National Solidarity Fund to tackle regional disparities. Also taking a stand is the Federation of Nursing Associations (Fnopi), which is calling for reforms to be pushed forward and for an end to the exemption scheme for professionals with foreign qualifications.