Visits and exams, waiting times are decreasing on the island. But for a dermatologist it still takes 4 and a half months

Waiting times on most of the services provided by the health facilities in Sardinia have improved.

The regional health councilor Carlo Doria underlines this: «The comparison between the month of April 2018 and the same period of 2023 - says the exponent of the Solinas council - returns a picture with various indicators improving compared to five years ago. We are talking about waiting times that can and must be improved further, but the trend we are seeing today, especially if we consider the impact that the pandemic has had on our healthcare system, tells us that the work and efforts made are going in the right direction ».
WHAT IS IMPROVING - On the island, specifically, waiting times for the first vascular surgery visits (28 days on average in April 2023, against the 84 recorded in the same period of 2018), ophthalmology (73 days against 119 ), gynecology (19 against 36) and urology (101 days in 2023 against 111 in 2018).
There is also a positive trend in waiting for instrumental exams , thus going from the 192 days of waiting that were necessary for a mammogram in 2018 to 118 in 2023 for a unilateral mammogram, which is further reduced to 79 for a bilateral exam. In the various types of CT scans, the best performance is recorded by that of the chest (on average 19 days are required, or 37 if with contrast, against 90 days in 2018). Waiting times are also decreasing for upper abdominal CT scans (where today the days required for services are on average 26, against 68 in 2018), lower abdominal CT scans (on average 19 days needed in April 2023 against 76 days in 2018) and complete abdomen CT (33 days against 96 in 2018).

ULTRASOUNDS AND MRIs - Waiting times for an MRI of the brainstem go on average from 127 days in 2018 to 99 days recorded in April, 99 days also needed for an MRI of the lower abdomen (it took an average of 107 days in 2018) . For ultrasound examinations, the most significant reduction is found for the execution of breast ultrasound, an average of 72 days required (48 if unilateral) against 107 in the 2018 figure.
WHAT IS WORSE – «On the other hand – specifies the councilor Doria – we record some worsening performances compared to five years ago . This is the case, for example, of the first endocrinology visits (144 days the average wait in 2023, against 108 in 2018), neurology (91 days against 60 five years ago), orthopedics (69 days against 37), ENT (60 vs 35), dermatology (137 days vs 48), gastroenterology (182 days vs 88). It is no coincidence that these services are attributable to specialties of which only one school remains in the whole of Sardinia. An aspect on which we are already intervening and which has prompted us to allocate ad hoc resources to enhance the training of doctors whose shortcomings we register today».

“NO TO DISINFORMATION” – «I also believe it is a duty towards the citizens to carry out an operation of truth and clarity on the subject of waiting lists in Sardinia», Doria points out. Adding: «State, as has been done, that it takes 12 years for oncological services, 11 years for hematological services or 10 years for neuropsychiatry services not only does not correspond to the truth, but it is irresponsible: clearly abnormal data that could be considered even ridiculous if people's concerns and health weren't involved, and this is unacceptable.

(Unioneonline/lf)