“The research we conducted in collaboration with the Apmarr association highlights serious structural deficiencies for integrated care in rheumatology.” This is “a survey” carried out “on a sample of 450 patients suffering from rheumatic diseases, to understand where we are with integrated territorial assistance”. This was stated by Guendalina Graffigna, full professor of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and director of EngageMinds Hub, on the sidelines of the conference organized by Apmarr-National Association of people with rheumatological and rare diseases, entitled ‘Integrated territorial assistance in rheumatology’, which was held in the Sala Zuccari of Palazzo Giustiniani in Rome.
“In summary – said the teacher – it emerged that patients report a good satisfaction in the care relationship with their doctor, both specialist and general practitioner. The doctor is able to listen to them, to involve them in therapeutic choices, but there are of the deep structural problems in the health system that do not allow full integration of care. Among the main critical issues: the very long waiting times, the difficulty in accessing services and clinics that are close to home and the whole digital dimension. amazed to see how in the 12 months, despite the pandemic and therefore the often impossibility of face-to-face meetings, patients complained about the impossibility of having digital interviews with their GP or specialist. online bookings of visits and access to their electronic therapeutic dossier for their clinical data and for sharing information with the pro first care team. All these are shortcomings that today invalidate the possibility of an effective, territorial and integrated taking in charge. These are shortcomings that patients on the one hand and doctors on the other are trying to fill privately with their good will. The assistance is therefore professionally of quality, but we must face undoubted efforts “.
Regarding the new funds of the NRP, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Graffigna underlined: “We need to invest to create an integrated system from a territorial point of view that, thanks to telemedicine, electronic instruments and more, can facilitate the patient to be the protagonist of his care path. The patient should be prompt in booking appointments and communicating their symptoms to the care team “, and” on the other hand, the doctor should be facilitated to be able to communicate continuously with their own patients. Patients and doctors are ready, but we need an organizational, regulatory, territorial structure that allows an effective meeting “.