Assistance in private hands, Turati’s appeal: “Services and places at risk” – La Nazione

The State of Health Services in Pistoia: A Comedy of Errors?

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the circus that is Tuscan healthcare management, where the tightrope walkers are nursing staff, the clowns are the local authorities, and the only ones who seem to be enjoying the show are the private multinationals. Grab your popcorn, because the latest episode in Pistoia has just dropped, and it’s a riveting tale of confusion, competition, and potential calamity — or as I like to call it, “How to Win Friends and Alienate Patients.”

The Countdown to Chaos

So, it seems like there’s a ticking clock in Pistoia. Less than 48 hours to submit your bids for health services as the Tuscan local health authorities have decided to play a game of “who can cut costs the quickest?” with less regard for service delivery than a toddler in a candy store. October 25th is circled in red on many a calendar, as it’s the date when plans for potential service cuts are set into motion, leaving the Turati Foundation holding what could be the short end of the stick.

What’s the Problem, Giancarlo?

Enter Giancarlo Magni, president of the Turati Foundation, who, in a letter to the Tuscany regional councilors that screams “Please listen!” is effectively saying, “Hold on, everyone! What about the quality of care?” Now, forgive me, but when private firms are treated the same as non-profits in the health services arena, it prompts the question: Is it about healthcare or is it about someone’s new yacht?

According to Giancarlo, under the new proposed model, services and jobs are not just “at risk” — they’re practically booking their one-way tickets packing! The clever idea here is to redistribute 30% of the budget into the private sector. Because, clearly, more competition is what the healthcare system needs. Because nothing says “I care about your health” like a bidding war between companies more interested in profit margins than patient care.

The Wild Restructuring Phenomenon

Good news, folks! According to Magni, the result of this harebrained scheme will be a “wild restructuring” of services that could very well wipe out the rich tapestry of care that your local non-profits provide. Yes, cheers to the private multinationals benefitting from this “incredible opportunity” while our beloved local establishments are left wondering where it all went wrong. It’s like inviting a family of raccoons into your home because they promised to take out the trash — how do you think that’s going to turn out?

The Impending Developments

So, what’s the takeaway from this? Maurizio De Scalzi, the director of the Turati Foundation, grimly informs us that the service we may have come to trust could be swept away faster than a magician’s assistant. A shocking statement, really, but it begs the question: When health services are auctioned off like old furniture at a garage sale, who’s really winning? The answer appears to be a mystery akin to understanding why cats play with string.

How can this be fixed?

In a perfect world, we’d strip back this absurd competition model and focus on quality over quantity — prioritize patient care over profit margins, and ensure that the local healthcare providers get the support they need to thrive. But then, we’d probably all have to agree that bureaucracies should be allowed to operate without making rapid decisions that are detrimental to community welfare. The horror!

Conclusion: A Call to Action

If you’ve read this far, maybe it’s time to take a stand, Pistoia. Whether it’s through petitions, protests, or a very loudly worded letter to your local councilors, now is the time. Because if there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s that healthcare should not be a commodity but a right, and it certainly shouldn’t be handed out at a 30% discount to the highest bidder.

So here’s to hoping that Pistoia can navigate this impending healthcare mayhem. And remember, if all else fails, you could always invest in an inflatable hospital.

Written by Martina Vacca

Pistoia, 23 October 2024 – La expiration is set for October 25th. By that date it will be necessary to submit requests to participate in the tenders announced by the Tuscan local health authorities with which the health services that are currently provided under the agreement will be assigned. Without distinction between new or historical realities, but above all without distinction between private structures, non-profit organizations and third sector bodies. The complaint comes from a non-profit organization rooted in Pistoia, the Turati Foundation, which risks having the agreement for all those health services relating to the field of rehabilitation reduced, with cuts in services and personnel, in the two offices of Gavinana and in the center of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation in Viale Adua. President Giancarlo Magni himself put the situation down on paper, with a very detailed letter, sent to the regional councilors of Tuscany and to the regional secretariats of the trade union organizations.

“In the general disinterest – writes the president of the Turati Foundation Giancarlo Magni – the three Tuscan local health authorities are proceeding, for private structures, non-profit organizations and third sector bodies that operate in healthcare, with expressions of interest to assign through tenders those services that they are currently provided under an agreement. Tuscany, currently the only region together with Lombardy, is in practice applying the government rule which implements the European competition directive known as Bolkestein. This rush is not understood unless we are aiming for a reduction in the budget reserved to date for the sector. In this way – we read further in the letter – an equal criterion is adopted for the assignment of services without any reference to objective criteria to evaluate the quality of the services offered. And they put profit and non-profit organizations on the same level by wildly applying the principle of ‘competition’.”

The consequences of all these anomalies, according to Magni, there will be two above all: “In the short term, difficulties in application, appeals and inconveniences in the use of services, in the medium term, the wild restructuring of assistance which is not provided directly by the public, with the disappearance of all those realities that are the fruit of Tuscany’s rich capillary network of closeness and solidarity to the benefit of private multinationals”.

But what will actually happen to the structures that provide services in Pistoia? We talk about it with the director of the Turati Foundation, Maurizio De Scalzi.

“In concrete terms, they are services and jobs are at risk. As a rule, the agreements are renewed every three years: a period of time that also allows us to plan and proceed with investments that improve the offering of services. From what we know, if we proceed with this new model, for the first year (upon renewal of the agreement) we will be guaranteed the maintenance of 70 percent of the initial budget, while the remaining 30 percent will be added up and redistributed among the private entities affiliated on a vast area basis, therefore also including Florence and Empoli. A choice that takes into account neither the needs of the area in which it operates nor the real potential of the various structures. Suffice it to say that in Gavinana we have 48 beds in the Rehabilitation Department, of which approximately 22 remain free and unoccupied annually. This means that we are not only able to satisfy local demand but that we could potentially absorb more”.

Martina Vacca