An emergency provision has been issued by the Region to solve the problems of continuity of care (the former medical guards) which characterize different areas of the Sardinian territory.
The focus is on the Usca, the Usca, the special continuity of care units born in response to the needs dictated by Covid, which will be offered to continue the service by engaging precisely in continuity of care in the "disadvantaged or very disadvantaged" offices of the island.
This was announced by the regional health councilor Carlo Doria .
"The medical professionals who have made a fundamental contribution to assistance in the area, during the pandemic and also after the conclusion of the state of emergency, will not be dispersed", explained Doria, adding: "We have put in place a provision of urgency that involves all the majority and opposition political forces which will make it possible to meet the territories with uncovered continuity of care posts, with the identification of disadvantaged and extremely disadvantaged locations, and which, through the strengthening of services, with the introduction, for example, the teleconsultation , in connection with the second level DEA hospitals, will allow us to increase the remuneration of the doctor on call with an additional item, effectively incentivising the coverage of those offices in which today it is more difficult to assign assignments ».
"The increase in additional remuneration - continues Doria - may possibly also be applied to services performed outside the standard hours of service carried out on a voluntary basis by emergency medical doctors in compliance with the employment contract".
"We have already identified the funds, 2 million euros , resources available for the current year and not spent as of December 31st," said the commissioner again.
"Unfortunately - he continued - after an initial availability of all the group leaders in the Regional Council for the activation of an emergency legislative procedure that would have made it possible to give an immediate health response to citizens in this emergency phase, we received the unavailability of minority forces to go down this road. This will force us to follow the ordinary procedure, with a physiological lengthening of the times that could have been responsibly avoided. The same fund - specifies the councilor - will be used to encourage general practitioners and paediatricians of free choice in disadvantaged and extremely disadvantaged locations for which the union agreement had already been found in recent months. In the next few days we will also meet the welfare continuity unions to share the new operational and contractual proposal".
«What we are advancing – declares the exponent of the Council – is a concrete proposal, capable of responding to the current shortcomings of continuity of care, which cannot and must not do without doctors. It is necessary to reiterate once again that the introduction of the figure of the community nurse in Sardinia, envisaged by national legislation, strengthens assistance in the area by giving families a further point of reference, but - underlines councilor Doria, in response to the recent political controversy – it is not a substitute for the doctor . There is no intention or attempt to replace continuum of care physicians in deficient locations with nurse practitioners. Any position that claims the opposite is pure distortion of reality and does not help citizens".
(Unioneonline/lf)