Waiting lists and innovation: Italians rate the NHS and indicate priorities

For Italians, healthcare remains a priority in which the government must invest by creating a favourable terrain for innovation, perceived as the main driver for economic growth and an indispensable lever for fostering wellbeing in an increasingly ageing population. This is the picture painted by a survey conducted by Euromedia Research and presented during the eighth edition of the "Investing for Life Health Summit", an event organised by MSD Italia at the Maxxi Museum in Rome, which promotes the National Health Service with reserve.

Long waiting times areconsidered the main problem of the National Health Service by 58% of the respondents (it was 62% in 2024). However, thetop of the list of demands are also the efficiency of emergency rooms and emergency services (38% of respondents) and hospital care (25%). The survey also shows how for 46% of those surveyed (up from 40% in 2024) the right to health is not fully satisfied. "On the contrary," explained Alessandra Ghisleri, Ceo of Euromedia Research, "positive evaluations are found in some northern regions, such as Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, reinforcing the perception of an unequal healthcare system, linked more to territorial performance than to uniform national standards. There is also a widespread conviction that Italia invests less than the EU average in healthcare (38%), while the assessment of the National Health Service that on the report card does not reach sufficiency (average score: 5.74) "is affected not only by the quantity of resources, but also by a management perceived as inefficient and the lack of clear political priorities". Moreover, 44% of Italians, Ghisleri concludes, 'consider the pharmaceutical industry's research and development effort in the fight against major diseases to be very important'.

"Thanks to the progress of scientific research," said Nicoletta Luppi, president and managing director of Msd Italia, "we have given many patients hope for life and it is only by focusing on innovation that we can continue to do so. The pharmaceuticals sector is a driving force for the economy and the social fabric of the region, with exports last year approaching 70 billion euro. "It is necessary," Luppi added, "to preserve and support this excellence by eliminating the pharmaceutical payback and initiating a systemic reform that incentivises industrial design. In other words, there is an urgent need to recognise the strategic value of the pharmaceutical industry "by considering it not just an expenditure item but a decisive factor for growth, sustainability and competitiveness that can guarantee fair and effective treatments".

Also for the president of Farmindustria, Marcello Cattani, in order to maintain and consolidate the pharmaceutical industry's leadership "a regulatory framework and industrial policies that favour innovation, public-private collaboration, and timely access to new therapies are essential". "In this context," he explained, "comes the international debate on instruments such as the 'Most Favoured Nation', which links national prices to the lowest levels applied in other states".

For his part, the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, returned to the subject of waiting lists, a critical issue that has been a real obstacle to access to care for decades. "I was struck by the fact that the Euromedia Reasearch survey," he emphasised, "shows an increase in the percentage of those who, without questioning regional autonomy, believe that a greater role for the State would improve the efficiency of healthcare, provide greater uniformity, and reduce the many, too many inequalities that are still present throughout the country. This is something that should give us pause for thought'. While the undersecretary for health, Marcello Gemmato, and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Massimo Garavaglia, spoke about the payback, a mechanism that was born many years ago as a containment measure "but has now become a surreptitious tool to cover the budget holes of the Regions with the paradox that those who go over the limit collect more from the companies". A corrective, according to Garavaglia, would be to remove the quotas borne by the companies and leave the regions with full responsibility for planning with a clear and binding expenditure ceiling. It would be a simple solution,' he concludes, 'that would bring back rationality and transparency.