On the overcrowding in the emergency room of the Policlinico delle Scotte di Siena, from many quarters the speech of the filter by the territory has been pulled out. And the reference went straight to the family doctors. Category in this moment often pulled into dance at any level. But in the face of the critical issues felt by hospital health, it is replied that i family doctorseven more so since the beginning of Covid, have been called upon to make considerable efforts. The comment on what is currently in the eye of the storm, namely the rows of ambulances and the acceptance of the emergency room, comes from Dr. Maurizio Pozzi, provincial secretary Fimmg: “What are family doctors asked for? Here a national consideration must be made. Although there is a generalized shortage, the number of doctors and nurses has increased somewhat since 2020. It hasn’t returned to the 2010 numbers but has increased. Instead the number of general practitioners continued to decline, we are at – 10%. Then there is the question Coronavirus, and also the speech of the holidays. Without doctors, it is difficult to find replacements. Thus the colleague finds himself with his patients and in addition those of doctor on vacation. We are talking about consistent numbers, to which are added the emissions of wapp messages and emails. It’s easy to point the finger on family doctors, but the workload is heavy. The RSA patients are added, plus those discharged early which involve catheters, infusions and so on. He pulls his hat where you can get ”.

But in the end there are those who divert to the emergency room.

I’m not saying that there aren’t those who make loose use of certain indications, but the category is doing its job. Just think of the resumption of the virus: the big ones are doing it general practitioners. At this point in my opinion we must take note of the fact that changing the scenarios, they must also change organizational models, otherwise how do we respond to the needs of the area? Our colleagues can’t take it anymore and so we only end up encouraging early retirement. It is no longer possible although we are in a province, that of Siena in which we used the discourse of investing in personnel and facilities. In the province of Siena there are several medical centers built with family doctors, and for this reason we still defend ourselves against other realities. These structures could absorb into something more. If you sit at the table with the Region and with the Aslorganizational solutions could be found ”.

What serve today?

“The category needs to be supported, times are shrinking, it suffers sacrifice. I repeat, the vast majority of cases Covid, even in this phase, they were managed at home by general practitioners. So what do you want from family doctors? Let’s say rather how the objectivity of the facts is. It makes no sense to wage a war against each other today. Rather let’s roll up our sleeves and do what needs to be done. We cannot accept that in the face of inadequate behavior of a doctor, the whole category is affected: the vast majority of family doctors have done and are giving a lot ”.