There are 6,044 personnel units lost by the National Health Service in the course of a single year, from 2010 to 2011. This can be learned from the 2011 annual account of the State General Accounting Office, reported by Il Sole 24 Ore Sanità. Going into detail, it turns out that doctors drop overall by 1,741 units, while a drastic reduction is observed among permanent managers, who drop by 31.17 among doctors and 66.67 among veterinarians. There are 9 more non-exclusive primaries compared to a decrease of 435 among those with an exclusive relationship. In addition to non-exclusivity, women are in partial countertrend, among whom the drop is 195 units compared to 5,849 for men. The interpretation that these data gives is marked by concern Riccardo Cassi, president of Cimo-Asmd, (Italian Hospital Doctors Coordination - Union Association of executive doctors). "We are convinced that there must be a reorganization, both of the hospital network and of the service network - the union leader told DoctorNews - but a drop in personnel that is not directly due to the reorganization creates a hole in the provision of services". One aspect that emerges from the report is the marked difference between the regions. On average, NHS personnel account for 20.94% of all regional employees, but the percentage rises to 26.89% in Emilia Romagna and 25.75% in Umbria, compared to 12.32% in Lazio. Extending the analysis to the last five years, it is precisely the Regions with repayment plans, such as Campania and Lazio, that recorded the greatest decrease. "The problem - comments Cassi - is that the recovery plans intervene heavily on the aspects that are more likely to hit, such as turnover, but they have not been able to affect the reorganization of the network and therefore the services are going to get worse". With regard to the imbalances between the various regional realities, «it is evident that in certain Regions personnel assigned to other functions have been hired; it seems more logical to me – continues Cassi – the percentage of Emilia Romagna, given that health represents 70% of the regional budget. It is normal that a large part of the staff is employed in health care and not in other services: very low percentages are an indication of patronage recruitments for services that are not needed".
January 17, 2013 – DoctorNews33
