«Until March 2026, the tasks entrusted to the specialists normally included 24 hours per week, for a total of approximately 96 hours per month, divided into 10 or 12 hour shifts. From April, however, the tasks would have been drastically reduced to just 34 hours per month in total, equivalent to approximately three shifts per month. This is a sudden reduction which, in addition to penalizing young doctors already engaged in an extremely burdensome training course, risks leaving numerous continuity of care stations and even emergency-related services uncovered.” About 15 professionals and the lawyers who assist them reported it in a note.
These medical specialists denounce the adoption of a provision by the ASP of Reggio Calabria which, in their opinion, aims to limit their activity in the medical guards and in continuity of care services to just 8 hours per week. «According to the ASP of Reggio Calabria – we read in the note – the limit of 8 hours per week provided for by Legislative Decree 34 of 2023 should also apply to care continuity assignments. A reading which, however, is contested by many, since the referenced rule would refer exclusively to freelance assignments and not to the agreed medical on-call activities. And it is precisely here that another element emerges that is destined to spark discussion: in the other Calabrian ASPs, including Catanzaro and Cosenza, the trainees regularly continue to carry out tasks lasting 12 or 24 hours a week, without the limitations adopted in Reggio Calabria being applied”.
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