The Balduzzi Decree changes healthcare

An unprecedented revolution in healthcare services

The law-decree proposed by the Minister of Health, Balduzzi, and approved on 6 September 2012 sees the introduction of new and important provisions for the entire healthcare sector.

The significant changes are:

• primary care physicians must guarantee 24-hour assistance 7 days a week in order to cut down queues at accident and emergency departments;
• traditional family doctors surgeries will be turned into multi-purpose clinics open 24-hours a day and will be staffed by a rota of doctors with a variety of specialisations;
• new measures relating to intramural activities, or rather the private dutiesthat doctors carry out within a hospital.  This also aims to verify the effective workload carried out by a doctor both as part of their ordinary and private intramural duties, with the results published online;
• every sporting association will have to have defibrillators and other lifesaving tools accessible for use near their playing area after recent cases of deaths in a sporting setting;
• transparency in the selection of general and primary managers.

The appointment of general managers of Regional Healthcare companies and authorities will be required to undergo a new merit-focused procedure intended to rebalance the relationship between political direction and the management of healthcare organisations.