HOSPEEM Study Visit to Italy in April 2016

HOSPEEM visited its Italian member organisation ARAN – Agenzia per la Rappresentanza Negoziale delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni – on 14 April 2016 in Rome.

A meeting at ARAN provided the opportunity to discuss about their functioning and activities and to get an insight into the system of public bargaining in Italy. This meeting also provided the opportunity to exchange about the impact of the economic crisis on the public administration and the most prominent challenges in Italy, such as the reform of the public administration, the reduction in public spending and the improvement of the efficiency of the public administration.

The afternoon was dedicated to a visit to the Agostino Gemelli Teaching Hospital, one of the largest teaching hospitals in Italy, with more than 1,500 beds and over 5,000 health professionals (of which 1,700 nurses), connected to the medical school of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. On this occasion, HOSPEEM had the opportunity to visit the neonatal intensive care unit and the new clinical laboratory, using an automated system working 24 hours a day and receiving the tubes from all the departments of the hospital. It was also very interesting to hear about the model developed by the Gemelli Hospital to ensure continuity of care for fragile patients.

HOSPEEM would like to express its sincere thanks to Sergio Gasparrini, Marta Branca, Elvira Gentile, Gianfranco Rucco and Pierluigi Mastrogiuseppe, as well as to Maurizio Zega and the staff of the Agostino Gemelli Teaching Hospital for the warm welcome and the enriching and fruitful exchange.