“Without a GP for two months”

“They told us that it would take some time to close the case. Two months later, however, we still haven’t had any feedback. And, in fact, my mother has no assistance coverage at this juncture.” SF, from Macerata, reports a situation which, she says, may be due to many factors, but which certainly creates objective difficulties. Following the retirement of her GP, the woman had to choose another doctor. As is known, the Ast indicates through colored flags the possible availability to accept the patient: the red one indicates a maximalist doctor who cannot be chosen, precisely because he has the maximum number of patients expected; the green one indicates a doctor who can welcome new patients; finally, the yellow one indicates a maximalist doctor who can only be chosen if certain conditions exist. “My mother – explains SF – has various problems, recognized under law 104, which make it difficult for her to reach medical offices further away from her residence. Thus, having identified a doctor with a yellow flag, not far from her home, she submitted the request for the choice of a new general practitioner. This requires approval by the territorial branch of the Ast works council, but also that the doctor concerned is willing to accept the patient a response from the commission. From what we know it involves affixing a signature and, perhaps, a stamp, and it seems absurd to us that this would take so long.” SF certainly doesn’t point the finger at the district’s operators, but rather at a bureaucracy that makes everything more complex and exhausting. But, above all, it temporarily leaves the mother without assistance. “My mother, who has her own problems, is currently without a GP. Of course the one she has chosen, to which she cannot yet have access, has reassured us that, if necessary, he will not leave her alone, but only for the his spirit of good will. We hope, however, that nothing happens if these procedures could proceed more quickly, for my mother as for others, we would all be happier.”

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