By the end of the year, the 3,400 family doctors in the Veneto region will receive by appointment only. The announcement comes from the territorial Fimmg, according to which the organizational adjustment would only be the logical consequence of the reorganization of primary care launched in the autumn by the Region. «Veneto family medicine» explains Silvio Regis, secretary of the union «has two years to join in group medicines, according to the classic model or the Venetian version of the group on the net. In both cases, the visit by appointment represents the most suitable model for the new organization, where the support of practice personnel will allow the development of initiative medicine".
Some consumer associations are critical of the model, but Fimmg throws water on the fire: «With functional aggregations» Regis recalls «we will have to guarantee openings of 7-8 hours. The visit by appointment will therefore allow us to offer patients a wider schedule. And then no one will refuse urgent requests: the patient will call and the doctor, having assessed the need, will find a space for him between one appointment and another ». Rather, it is not the resistance of consumer associations that worries Fimmg, but rather the demands of the tax authorities. «In December» explains the regional secretary «a sentence established that network medicines are also subject to IRAP. It's ridiculous: family doctors organize themselves in an increasingly complex way to meet the needs of the NHS and patients and the state, instead of thanking us, harasses us even more ».
February 6, 2012 – DoctorNews
