Nursing Up met with the Minister of Health, Prof. Orazio Schillaci, at Lungotevere Ripa, Rome.
President De Palma immediately reiterated that healthcare professionals play a vital role in the healthcare system and their recognition is fundamental to ensure good quality healthcare.
To do this, courageous choices are needed for the future of the NHS.
The President reported to the Minister that Italy is still at the bottom of the list in Europe regarding the pay of nursing staff and healthcare professionals under law 42/1999, with net salaries of about 1500 euros (unchanged since 1990, below the OECD average).
Structural reforms are needed that seriously value nurses and healthcare professionals.
Fundamental is to adopt concrete measures to reduce the shortage of nursing staff, such as increasing salaries by at least 500 euros (to approach the OECD average), improving working conditions to make the profession more attractive, unlocking mobility, reviewing allowances, a single national contract between public and private, recognizing the enormous difficulties these professionals face. It is no coincidence that nursing is the profession with the highest rate of injuries and suicides worldwide.
The Union also reminded those present that nurses represent the largest and most concerning shortage of healthcare staff, with a structural gap of 65-80,000 units and a peak that leads up to a shortage of 250,000 units, if we reason based on the standards of other European countries and the renewed needs of a population that is inexorably aging.
More staff means fewer infections and hospital deaths, which translates into fewer antibiotics, less antibiotic resistance, fewer pressure sores and consequently less material for dressings and drugs. All this translates into savings of millions of euros annually, as international evidence shows.
In Australia, for example, the law requires one nurse for every 4 patients (in wards), 1 to 1 or one to two in critical care areas, because they have understood that an adequate number of nurses and support staff saves money, lives, and illnesses.
Evidence also shows that replacing the nurse with another figure, including the doctor, does not reduce mortality.
The World Health Organization has recently reiterated the importance of nurses as the final point of reference in a patient's care pathway, highlighting their skills and the value of the direct and human relationship they are able to establish in long care processes.
There was also discussion about how important it is to correct the law on the non-application of the exclusivity constraint. Each region should have the possibility to adapt the regulations according to its specific needs, but it is important to avoid this possibility being used in a restrictive or discriminatory way, making it practically impossible to work outside the employment relationship.
Why is all this not required of doctors, for example?
The employer is not required and should not carry out any checks and therefore the planned verification on "compliance with working time regulations" raises doubts. An exclusivity allowance should then be included, as for doctors, for those who refuse private practice.
The Minister assured the willingness to work on the issues reported by Nursing Up, and said goodbye to all the trade unions present, giving his availability for new meetings to address the various issues.
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