"A dramatic situation that should horrify any healthcare administration." The regional secretariats of Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp, and Fials have issued a harsh denunciation of the conditions in the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Complex Unit at Cagliari's Microcitemic Hospital, which was merged with Arnas Brotzu on January 1, 2026. The unions describe a department now close to operational collapse, amid staffing shortages, inadequate safety conditions, and increasingly difficult care pressure. The healthcare authority's General Management is also in the crosshairs, accused of failing to respond despite repeated warnings from associations, worker representatives, and the formal complaint from Anna Cau, the Regional Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents.

The severity of the situation is first and foremost illustrated by the number of assaults on staff. In the first ten months of 2026, CGIL, CISL, and FIALS report, 23 reports of incidents of physical violence were recorded, almost all of which involved nurses and healthcare workers. "Attacked with bites, scratches, kicks, and punches in the course of their daily work," the unions complain, alleging that minimum safety conditions within the department are not being guaranteed.

Among the critical issues reported are the video surveillance systems, which are described as obsolete, inefficient, and characterized by numerous blind spots, especially at night . Requests for the installation of burglar-proof doors with viewing windows to protect the nurses' station and the rooms for acute patients also went unanswered.

Overcrowding makes the work of healthcare workers even more difficult. According to unions, regular hospitalization rates consistently exceed 100%, a situation that also affects the Day Hospital. This pressure on healthcare providers is compounded by an increasingly severe staff shortage.

On the nursing front, there is a shortage of at least five nurses compared to the minimum requirement of twelve. While at the beginning of the year, the shift schedule could count on ten nurses, today only eight remain on duty, with the prospect of a reduction to seven by January 2027. "The reduction in staffing has caused the average hourly rate per employee to soar beyond the limits of psychological and physical sustainability," argue CGIL, CISL, and FIALS, also denouncing the impossibility of regularly scheduling contractual holidays and rest periods.

Further complicating the situation is the suspension of payments and renewal of additional benefits, cited by the company as a lack of approved regional funds. This decision, according to the unions, also prevents the recruitment of support staff from other departments.

The crisis, they add, also affects other professional figures. The number of permanent doctors is reportedly at least two short of what is needed, while the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician (TERP) is completely lacking, a role considered essential by the unions but which has not been included in the staffing plans. Furthermore, for the entire volume of patients, there is reportedly only one educator.

The consequences, the unions warn, inevitably fall on the families of hospitalized minors, who are forced to make up for the lack of care and directly care for their children during their stay. "They are literally abandoned on the ward and forced to compensate for the hospital's structural deficiencies," they accuse.

Hence the call for immediate intervention by regional leaders. "Enough excuses and postponing solutions in the name of future projects or long-term reorganizations," the unions write, demanding accountability for the risks to workers and young patients. The appeal is addressed directly to the regional president and interim health councilor, Alessandra Todde, who is called upon to intervene urgently. Signing the complaint are Carlo Marras for the CGIL, Guido Sarritzu for the CISL, and Paolo Cugliara for the FIALS.

(Unioneonline)

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