The complaint of general practitioners: family members are invited to take them to the ward, using the prescription. The Local Health Authority: report the cases
by Valentina Calzavara – 13 December 2016 – the Treviso grandstand
Patients admitted to the Ca' Foncello hospital and family members invited by health personnel to contact the general practitioner for the prescription of medicines for the patient. In recent months there has been a succession of cases, so much so that the Fimmg, the Italian federation of general practitioners of Treviso, has decided to report the bad practice to the strategic direction of the Local Health Authority 9, asking for a remedy. Request that the health company accepted, inviting citizens to communicate any anomalies.
The problem brought to light by Fimmg has dragged on for some time. «Several times there have been situations in which i relatives of our patients, still in hospital, come to the clinic to be prescribed medicines and aids. This shouldn't be happening», denounces Brunello Gorini, secretary of the Fimmg of the capital. «It happens that the family members of the 
hospitalized please contact us, on the advice of the doctor, the head nurse or the nurse, asking us to make a prescription to go and buy the medicine at the pharmacy. This is not the right way to proceed. By law, the family doctor cannot prescribe during hospitalization, running the risk of interfering with the treatment that the hospital is administering».
The umpteenth case dates back to yesterday morning and concerns the request for an aid for an assisted person with walking difficulties. Incorrect procedures that cause discomfort to families, directed to the duct surgery, wasting time in vain. The economic aspect should not be overlooked either. «The drug in the hospital is subject to auction and costs less than in the pharmacy, it is better if the Local Health Authority gives it to you. We have decided to bring the matter to light and we have received attention and understanding from the healthcare company», concludes Gorini.
The problem was recently raised by Fimmg during a company committee and now the strategic direction of the Local Health Authority 9 invites users to report cases in which family members are directed from the ward to the doctor for prescription drugs. Francesco Benazzi, director general of the USL di Marca, clarifies what the correct procedure is: «At the beginning of the hospitalization, patients are asked to bring all the medicines they use from home to see which ones they use. At that point, if there are medicines that are not present in our handbook, we find equivalents with the same active ingredient. In the event that the medicine is not present, at the request of the ward doctor, our hospital pharmacy takes care of recovering it», highlights the number one of the Treviso health care, «sometimes it escapes that relatives are told to go to the doctor for a prescription, if this happens the invitation is to report it to the management. Once we have been informed, we will do our best to find what is needed for the hospitalized patient".
