"Doctor, I can't book the x-ray you requested because they tell me your prescription is wrong." "Doctor, I couldn't book the specialist visit because the code you put in my prescription is invalid."

How many doctors and citizens have found themselves in this situation in recent days?

"So many," says Carlo Piredda, regional secretary of Simg Sardegna, "2025 began with the update of the list of services that citizens are entitled to receive from the National Service, which has caused numerous inconveniences for both doctors and citizens. The new nomenclature is creating a lot of problems for us."

Federlab and the majority regional councilor Lorenzo Cozzolino have already made their voices heard on the issue, now the general practitioners are intervening.

"The new nomenclature, which concerns the request for specialist visits, blood tests and instrumental tests, has updated the list of services that citizens can benefit from free of charge or by paying a ticket. In fact, each service corresponds to a specific code, but since the updating of the booking systems and the software provided to doctors is not yet complete, citizens have enormous difficulty accessing the services", adds Dr. Piredda.

"All this is causing a huge additional workload especially for general practitioners, who are the ones who issue the greatest number of prescriptions, and who receive a high number of calls and complaints every day from patients who are told that the codes are incorrect. Furthermore, some services have completely changed their name and it is difficult to find them in the management systems used by doctors who have to search for services that are not easily codified. This additional burden occurs precisely in the months of greatest workload for medical practices, which in addition to their daily activity are dealing with the peak of the flu with thousands of Sardinian citizens in need of care."

The doctor adds: "This change in nomenclature happened quickly and suddenly without doctors being informed and trained on the introduction of the new price list, and without adequate information from citizens who were not told, through an information campaign on TV, newspapers, social networks, that in this transition phase there could be some problems with bookings. To this we must add that not all doctors are aware of this change and of the fact that some services are no longer provided by the National Health Service".

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