Classifica Eccellenze italiane, solo 35° nel mondo

In the Italian healthcare landscape of 2024, three prominent hospitals emerge, each distinguished by excellent performance in key areas. The ranking drawn up by the National Agency for Regional Health Services (Agenas) awarded the top spots to facilities that stand out for the quality of care and efficiency of services. On the podium we find the Careggi Hospital in Florence, followed by the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria delle Marche in Ancona and Humanitas in Rozzano.

Careggi: Excellence in Every Monitored Area

The Careggi Hospital in Florence takes first place for the quality of healthcare services in Italy, confirming its leadership in all eight monitored clinical areas, including post-operative survival and emergency efficiency. This result is the outcome of targeted investments and an integrated approach that values staff and technological resources.

Ancona and Humanitas: A Shared Primacy between Public and Private

In second place, we find the Azienda Ospedaliera delle Marche in Ancona, already excellent last year, but this year further improving its performance in seven of the eight key areas. In third place is Humanitas in Rozzano, which for the third consecutive year confirms itself as the leading private hospital. Eight of the monitored areas show very high levels, demonstrating the facility's ongoing commitment to providing advanced healthcare.

In the International Comparison: Where Does Italy Stand? The ranking sees Italian hospitals placed further behind. The Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome is the first to appear, but only in 35th place, followed by Niguarda in Milan in 52nd. The ranking is dominated by US, Canadian, and European facilities, with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, the Cleveland Clinic, and Toronto General at the top. This gap highlights the path necessary for the Italian National Health Service (SSN) to restore the excellence that once characterized Italian healthcare.

The Limits of the Decentralized SSN: Growth of Management and Staff Shortages. Since decentralization and the transfer of management to the regions, the SSN has seen a drastic drop in available healthcare staff, a worsening of working environments, and a worrying increase in the number of managers. This model, which resembles a ship with too many captains and too few rowers, is compromising the quality of care and citizens' trust in a system that was once an example of efficiency.

Regaining a prominent position in international healthcare requires structural change: from reducing management levels to increasing human resources and improving working conditions for healthcare staff. While the best Italian hospitals continue to maintain excellence, the system as a whole still has a long way to go to regain the enviable reputation it had in the past. 

Nursing Up Emilia Romagna invites colleagues to join and give strength to a single union: the only category union that will strike to save the SSN. The alternative? Continue to complain and accept ridiculous contractual increases. Only with 51% in the hands of nurses and midwives can we change healthcare, for us, for all professionals, and for citizens. 

Vincenzo Parisi