In 2024, 17.2% of Sardinians, or 270,000 people, declared they had forgone one or more healthcare services, compared to the Italian average of 9.9% and an increase of 3.5 percentage points compared to 2023.
This is what emerges from the eighth Report on the National Health Service presented by the Gimbe Foundation .
The volume of hospitalizations and specialist services provided by private facilities is an indicator of the presence and attractiveness of accredited private healthcare and, in this case, the Island ranks 16th with private facilities providing 22.8% of the total value of active regional healthcare mobility (Italian average 54.4%) .
Regarding general practitioners, the ceiling of 1,500 patients is exceeded by 60.6% of the total, while the national average is 51.7%. The average number of patients per physician as of January 1, 2024, in the entire region is 1,391 (national average 1,374). According to the Gimbe estimate, which took into account the optimal ratio of one general practitioner for every 1,200 patients, Sardinia will have a shortage of 150 professionals as of January 1, 2024. In fact, between 2019 and 2023, the number of general practitioners decreased by 39% . The national average, however, stood at 12.7%.
Again in 2024, the number of participants in the national competition for the specific training course in general medicine was lower than the number of places available: 17 candidates (28%) were less than the number of funded scholarships (Italian average -15%).
Referring then to the optimal ratio of one private pediatrician for every 850 patients (as foreseen by the latest national collective agreement) as of January 1, 2024 , there is no shortage on the Island but by 2028 62 private pediatricians will reach the retirement age of 70 .
Again, in 2023, at the regional level there were 14.2 units of healthcare personnel per 1,000 inhabitants (Italian average 11.9) and in particular 2.59 employed doctors per 1,000 inhabitants (Italian average 1.85), which places Sardinia first among the regions.
