Sardinia, the region of long life and the blue zone. But also of the lowest birth rate in Italy and the very high average age: in fact, on the Island there are (2023 data) 252.8 elderly people for every 100 young people. Much more than double. The numbers - which come a few days after the Cgia report on the number of pensioners that on the Island has exceeded that of active workers - are revealed by the Uilp union, which also launches an appeal to the Regional Council: "social issues must be a priority".
"A system based mainly on hospitals cannot support the presence of so many elderly people," says Rinaldo Mereu, general secretary of the Uil pensioners' union in Sardinia. "We need a prevention strategy to reduce the time of non-self-sufficiency compared to the life span, and an innovative home care project for the elderly."
To address this emergency, the group is calling for the opening of a table that deals exclusively with elderly people.
As for the issues to be addressed, for Uilp it is necessary to accelerate on territorial healthcare, therefore close to the patient, with targeted projects for taking charge of elderly patients and an innovative model of home care for the elderly.
«We cannot wait until June 2026, the date set by the PNRR, to see improvements», clarifies Mereu.
The test bench of the new Todde Administration, according to the pensioners' union, will be the creation of a territorial network with community homes, which will have to connect with the Cot, the territorial operations centers, and the hospitals, overcoming any critical issues such as the issue of reservations and specialist visits. A "push" to bureaucracy is then needed, with the streamlining and simplification of procedures "freeing the system from any duplication of certificates and forms for access to services", guaranteeing "greater appropriateness and a reduction in waiting list times also in the relationship with specialists".
