In recent days, a 65-year-old man flew into a rage at the emergency room in Alghero, tired of having to wait for hours for treatment. The intervention of the police was necessary to contain the injured man. It happened last January 26th and the management of the Sassari Local Health Authority would like to point out today that that Friday was a complicated day, with a particular influx of yellow codes: «About 50% of the total accesses of the day, which required a particular commitment to personnel on duty". Then the arrival of a code red, a pediatric patient with a serious respiratory crisis, ended up further prolonging the patient's wait with the wounds on his finger and elbow needing stitching.
On that particular day at the Alghero emergency room there were: 1 red code, 35 yellow codes with an average waiting time of 27 minutes and 33 green codes, with a waiting time of 149 minutes. "The population is reminded that the green codes could also have been adequately responded to by contacting the continuity of care service, such as from their general practitioner or pediatrician or from the emergency medical service", declares Giovanni Sechi, head of the emergency room of the Civil hospital of Alghero. «It is advisable not to go to the emergency room to obtain visits for minor ailments», warns Dr. Sechi.
In recent days the Local Health Authority has formally appointed the directors of the Medicine and Surgery SCs for admission and emergency services (Emergency Room), stabilizing a situation of precariousness that has persisted for several years. «This strategic choice, together with the reinforcement of professional staff and extraordinary measures for the management of temporary massive influxes of yellow or red codes, will reasonably avoid long waits even for lower priority codes which in any case should be managed by general practitioners or by the medical guards, who are also being strengthened", report from the Sassari Local Health Authority.
