Six out of ten Italians are convinced that to solve the problem of waiting lists “we need to hire more doctors and nurses” and over half (56%) believe “it is necessary to invest more resources in the public sector to extend the hours of health services”. While the process of the waiting list decree approved by the government is underway in the Senate, the nurses’ union Nursind wanted to directly involve citizens on this issue with a survey commissioned by Swg. “A survey – comments the national secretary Andrea Bottega – which reveals on the one hand the awareness on the part of Italians of the need for concrete interventions and not spot measures without resources and on the other also their concerns about the stability of the NHS. Moreover, the fact that only one responder in ten (11%) supports the hypothesis of a strengthening of the accredited private sector to reduce the times of health services is a sign of a growing fear in the population about a progressive slide towards the private sector of health care”.
The survey also clearly shows the citizens’ belief in the role that nurses could play in combating long waiting lists: “71% of the sample believes that post-hospitalization check-ups, simple dressings, small stitches and prescriptions for medical devices would help streamline response times. One in five Italians even thinks that this solution would significantly improve the situation,” the survey states.
Bottega, ‘nine out of ten Italians say they are worried about the serious shortage of nurses’
“Even if we wanted to, however, the number one problem – comments Bottega – remains the shortage of professionals and, assuming that we want to hire nursing staff, the obstacle to overcome is once again the lack of attractiveness of our work. An increasingly faded appeal that not only we, as the parties involved, but also Italians (84%) attribute primarily to low salaries and excessive workloads, as well as (80%) to an irrelevant recognition of the value of the profession”.
A common feeling among citizens and nurses that also concerns fears for the future. “We share the same anxieties with Italians – continues the secretary -. Nine out of ten Italians say they are worried about the serious shortage of nurses that will loom in the coming years. And we are as worried as they are. As a direct consequence of this, 53% of those interviewed by Swg fear a reduction in public services in favor of private ones, while 35% fear a reduction in the quality of services. And we cannot disagree with them”. Not to mention that “39% of the sample fears an increase in waiting lists. A prospect that Nursind also looks at with fear, already worried about the effects of the current decree. It is no coincidence – concludes Bottega – that we immediately warned the government and Parliament about the risk of a shift in waiting times from the diagnostic phase to the therapeutic phase”.
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