2025 opens with the hypothesis of some great news for i general practitionerswith the government of Georgie Melons who is working on a law to make them NHS employees (National Health Service) and no longer freelancers. There reform is carried out by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Regions and has the main aim of making general practitioners work in the Community houses and in Cot(Territorial operations centers).
GPs become employees
To understand the impact the reform of the government on the entire healthcare system it is necessary to take a step back and start from the current state of things. Today i general practitioners they are gods free professionals with its own affiliated studio with the NHS. The result is that they manage their own clinics and take care of patients in a maximum number of 1,500 people which, however, in practice reaches up to 1,800.
With the reform being drafted, general practitioners – today around 40 thousand in Italy – would become NHS employees and they would have as their place of work mainly the Homes and community hospitals as well as the territorial operations centers (Cot). In this way, according to the government’s opinion, it will be easier to manage the staff available to local healthcare.
However, it is important to point out that the change described should not be mandatory for all GPs. New specialists would join the system, i.e. those who start the profession after the introduction of the reform, while those who already work as freelancers should be able to choose whether to remain as such or become an employee of the NHS. In any case, however, the doctor must necessarily guarantee a certain number of hours per week to the health of its territory, probably between 14 and 16 hours.
The reasons for the reform
With the reform being drafted, the government has the main objective of improve healthcare provision for citizens, especially at a territorial level, leading as mentioned to an strengthening of community houses and Cots. Already last September, in fact, the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci had announced that with the 2025 Budget “the ministry has undertaken to develop two related bills, aimed at strengthening local and hospital assistance, as well as reforming health professions, which I intend to define and bring to approval as soon as possible. No real health reform can have hope if the role played by primary care doctors is not reviewed.”
The challenge of community houses
The main challenge that the reform of general practitioners intends to address is aimed at strengthening community homes, as envisaged by mission number 6 of the Pnrr. By the second half of 2026In fact, the number of community houses in Italy will have to reach 1,430so as to be the first point of reference for citizens who need treatment and lighten the load currently weighing on hospitals and emergency rooms.
At present, as reported by Agenasmost of the community houses they are not activethey can be counted 413 throughout the country (in total in 11 regions). Above all, the medical staff within them is missing, with the data they report 120 facilities without primary care doctors and 137 where the presence of paediatricians is not expected.
