If the community doesn't filter through, emergency rooms are in crisis. Sick residents can't find care close to home—perhaps because their town doesn't have a GP, or because the small provincial clinic a few dozen kilometers away closes at 8 pm, or because the local outpatient clinic is falling apart. In short, those suffering are forced to go to the large, always-open hub, perhaps calling an ambulance even when it's not necessary. And if there's no doctor on board, as is the vast majority of cases, it's obvious the patient is taken to a place where care is guaranteed 24/7.
It happens throughout Italy, where improper access averages one in four, and in Sardinia the figure is even higher, reaching 40%.
Cristina Cossu's full article in L'Unione Sarda, available on newsstands today and on the L'Unione Digital app.
abbonati.unionesarda.it/Edicola
