Eurispes has gathered Italian people’s opinions about the healthcare personnel work in the last twelve months and about the efficiency of the National Health System. 39.1% of Italians believe that doctors and nurses have just fulfilled their duty in the emergency, while the percentage of those who consider them heroes is slightly lower (37.3%); only 7.2% think that they have dealt with the emergency inadequately, but many were unable to express a judgment (16.4%). The idea that health professionals have just fulfilled their duty is more widespread among those with a higher education qualification (diploma or university degree) while the judgment of a heroic quest is prevalent among those with an elementary license or no university degree. In the North-West of the country there is a clearer belief that doctors and nurses have just fulfilled their duty (43.4%), while especially in the South there is a belief that hospital staff have been heroic (47.7%). In the Islands there is the largest number of those who think that doctors and nurses acted inadequately (13.6%).
General Practitioners: a reference for 6 out of 10 Italians
Most Italians (60.8%) turned to them for information and advice on Covid-19 and, among them, 39.9% say that their GP has been available, while about one out of five respondents (20.9%) replies that their doctor has not been available. However, many (39.2%) have chosen not to seek information and advice from their GPs. The elderly and most at-risk age groups (69.5% of over-65s) relied on the general medical staff most often. Among those who turned to the GPs, the inhabitants of the South judged them more available (42.5%), while for North-East residents GPs were less available than the others (27.1% were unavailable).
Italian judgment concerning Italian National Health System: Italian doctors are the best in the world
66% of Italians are convinced that Italian doctors are the best in the world. 62.5% of Italians agree (41% “quite enough” and 21.5% “very much”) that Italian doctors should be more valorised and paid. For 78.5% of Italians, the health emergency has shown that it is crucial to invest more in public health than in private health. Nonetheless, the rate of those who agrees (very much and quite enough) that the pandemic has demonstrated the inadequacy of the National Health System is lower (57.6%). 73.9% agree with the idea that Italian doctors expatriate because they have more recognition and greater career opportunities abroad.
What is the Italians’ level of trust in the National Health System?
71.5% of Italian population expresses confidence in the Italian National Health System (50.4% quite enough confidence and 21.1% a lot of confidence). It is the North-East regions of the Country that express the highest approval rating in the National Health System, collecting, in total, 86.7% of positive reviews.
