The Ministry of Health recently published the Statistical Yearbook referring to 2010, full of figures and tables on the current state of public health in Italy. The report highlights some trends, such as the decrease in hospital beds to the advantage of a greater extension of home assistance and other alternative services to hospitalization. At a national level, the average availability of bed places is 4.1 places for every 1,000 inhabitants, while those dedicated to acute care are 3.5 for every 1,000 inhabitants. However, the situation is differentiated on the territory and from 5.3 beds in Molise it goes down to 3.4 in Campania. For rehabilitation and long-term care, the national average is 0.6 beds for every 1,000 inhabitants. Between 2005 and 2008, the number of public facilities decreased by 1.2%, while specialist outpatient care facilities decreased by 5.3% in the public sector and by 0.7% in the private sector. On the other hand, significant increases were recorded in the accredited private sector in relation to residential assistance and rehabilitation. The strong shortage of paediatricians affiliated with the NHS also emerges, who are often replaced by family doctors: in fact, it is the latter who in almost all Regions assist children under the age of 14, who would instead be of pediatric competence. The exceptions are Abruzzo and the two island regions, where the number of children per pediatrician is just over the established limit. At a national level, the average number of children for each pediatrician is 1,026, with a strong variability on the territory. Instead, the potential load for each general practitioner is 1,114 adults; also in this case it is an average value with marked differences between the various local realities. Overall, the workforce amounted to 638,459 units in 2008, a decrease of over ten thousand units compared to the previous year. Among these were 105,638 doctors, 260,787 nurses, 5,441 veterinarians, 2,338 pharmacists and 3,742 biologists.
March 27, 2013 – DoctorNews33
