Manifesto per una salute di prossimità. Una ricalibratura dell’assistenza territoriale del Servizio Sanitario Nazionale a partire dalla centralità della persona

The Covid-19 pandemic crisis has further highlighted the criticalities and structural weaknesses of the Italian National Health Service (NHS). This is nothing new, but well-known features in the decade-long history of a service that was established 40 years ago. Moreover, the syndemic nature of the spread of Covid-19 had a huge impact on the primary and territorial care system. These should have been intended to provide a fundamental function in preventing, treating, and containing the spread of infection, which would have been vital in order not to overburden hospitals and the emergency system. Starting from this case of failure, the authors propose a model for responding to these vital threats to the National Health Service. This model, based on proximity and embedded in a system of territorial and home-based care, was built through a qualitative research design (using the Delphi technique, interviewing experts) involving some of Italy's leading experts and professionals in the health system.