Italian hospitals grapple with booking delays and acute bed shortages

In the Marche region, the Senigallia hospital (and nearby Jesi) reduced the operating hours of its CUP (centralized booking) from June 22 to September 15, limiting online appointments to only urgent priority patients. The change left many patients unable to schedule routine laboratory exams despite available slots, prompting criticism of the reorganization as poorly planned and especially burdensome for older citizens.

In Sardinia, the Giovanni Paolo II hospital in Olbia reports that all acute‑care beds are occupied, forcing patients to remain in the emergency department for extended periods. The emergency unit handles about 200 visits daily, and the medicine ward has had no free beds for weeks. Staff shortages persist despite the addition of over twenty health workers, and plans to move eight urgent‑medicine beds into the emergency area have raised concerns about further strain on services.