A physical therapy appointment can be arranged more or less anywhere in Sardinia, but problems arise immediately afterward, when the patient must begin treatment and book the prescribed rehabilitation directly at accredited private centers (where most services are provided).

This is when the waiting times become longer, "waits range from six months to a year," explains Mauro Piria, president of the MedNet union and national secretary of the physiatrists' association, "because we're only managing to provide half the services we provided two years ago, and failure to provide or delays in rehabilitation leads to a deterioration in the quality of life for people of all ages, difficulty returning to work, a reduction in the patient's independence, and an increase in social and healthcare costs."

The budgets

The Mednet association is highlighting the failure of FKT (physiotherapy) to adjust its budgets to the new tariff. While the fees for these sessions have been increased (after a twenty-five-year freeze), "the purchasing plan submitted by Ares in May does not take this into account."

"For over a year, we have been reporting a serious issue to Ares and the Department," he continues. "The Plan for the Procurement of Outpatient Specialist Services continues to fail to adequately address the new tariff classification that came into effect on January 1, 2025. If tariffs increase significantly, even by more than 50%, but the budget allocated to this branch remains essentially unchanged or is not adjusted proportionately, the result is inevitable: the same resources will purchase far fewer services."

Cristina Cossu