From 2020 to 2022, 32,500 beds were cut in Italian hospitals, and over 11,000 doctors left public facilities. Hospitals are also decreasing: in 10 years, 95 (9%) have been closed.
And there are fewer and fewer resources: in 2024, the financing of the Health Fund increased in absolute terms compared to 2021 but decreased compared to GDP and is eroded by inflation. The data are presented by the 75 scientific societies of hospital and university clinicians (FoSSC), who are asking the government for "major structural reform and urgent measures to save the NHS. Treatment for everyone is at risk," says the head of Fossc, Francesco Cognetti, at a press conference in Rome. The average age of doctors is increasingly high, with as many as 56% over 55 compared to 14% in Great Britain, he says. By 2025, 29,000 white coats and 21 thousand nurses will retire, and more and more young people trained at state expense (around 150 thousand euros each) go abroad, where they receive salaries even three times higher.