The "reminder" from the Director General of Health, Thomas Schael, to the Health Authorities came through loud and clear: there are large hospitals (hubs) that are refusing to admit people sent from peripheral facilities (spokes), "but the lack of available beds in a specialist discipline cannot constitute a reason for refusing to admit a critical patient or one in conditions of time dependence."

The situation is complicated, with several facilities fully booked, and doctors are responding: we can't keep putting people in hallways . "At Brotzu, we've never turned away a patient because we didn't want to treat them. The problem is another: where should we admit them? Every day, we deal with overflowing wards and patients forced to wait for a bed in the hospital corridors . Thinking of solving this situation by appealing to the hospitals means failing to face reality and not wanting to find solutions."

In the background, the Court of Auditors' rebuke of waiting lists is emerging, with Sardinia still recording the highest rate of treatment abandonment among Italian regions. We're at 17%. Structural causes are at the root of the problem: "The shortage of doctors and nursing staff, the stagnation in staff turnover, the flight of public sector personnel to the private sector, organizational inefficiencies." And in particular, "the lack of a local healthcare network."