Agenas, the body that also monitors waiting lists, has published the quarterly bulletin. In the first nine months of 2026 there was an improvement compared to 2025. There continues to be “margins for improvement”, we read, but above all the territorial differences are high.
From monitoring it is possible to discover which visits are most difficult to book, which exams have the longest waiting lists and which regions have the worst times.
Waiting lists improving
A general improvement emerges from the periodic bulletin on the trend of the waiting lists. Over 2 million more bookings in the first nine months of 2026 compared to the same period of 2025 and an improvement was seen precisely in the maximum waiting times for specialist visits and diagnostic tests.
The bulletin therefore highlights a positive trend already seen in the first half of the year. According to the monitoring, updated to 30 September 2026, in the first nine months of 2026 overall bookings went from 19.7 million in 2025 to 21.8 million (+10%).
They grow above all:
- first specialist visits, from 11.3 to 12.3 million;
- diagnostic tests, from 8.4 to 9.5 million.
In absolute terms, the first visits booked within the scheduled times increased from 8.7 to 9.6 million, with approximately 935,000 more services, while diagnostic tests increased from 7 to 8.1 million, equal to approximately 1.1 million additional tests within the guarantee times.
The easiest visits to book
The bulletin highlights the visits and services that are easiest to book. These include urgent visits, those guaranteed within three days, which meet the deadlines in 81.7% of cases, while short class visits, those to be carried out within 10 days, increase from 78.2 to 80.6%.
There was also an improvement in diagnostic tests, where urgent services guaranteed within three days rose to 77.3%, while those in short classes increased to 78.2%.
In the framework of widespread improvement, the performances that recover the most are:
- first oncological visits;
- physiatric visit;
- gastroenterological visit;
- pneumological examination;
- dermatological visit (which remains among the most critical services).
Among the diagnostic tests that are improving we find:
- colonoscopy;
- gastroscopy;
- breast ultrasound;
- ultrasound of the abdomen.
The worst regions
From the bulletin it is also possible to find out what the differences are between the regions. The general trend is positive, but there are some differences to underline. Some regions are above 90%, while others fall below 70% both in terms of first visits and diagnostic tests.
Among the best in both fields of analysis are:
- Basilicata;
- Lazio;
- Marche;
- Veneto.
Among the worst, therefore with performance below 70%, we find both data below:
These two regions in particular are characterized by difficulties in both types of performance, even if progress has been reported compared to previous data. A region to be kept under control, due to the worsening compared to previous data, is Sardinia.
