Lazio Region – Decree signed for reform of oncology network
The president of the Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti signed a decree reorganizing cancer screening programs throughout the territory, reshaping the breast, colorectal and cervical cancer network.
“The decree represents a turning point for cancer screening in our region,” comments Lazio Regional President Nicola Zingaretti.
Specifically, with the decree, compliance with the quality standards of the screening offer is guaranteed through a real unified governance of the ASLs, a governance action that is articulated at the regional and corporate level taking into account the resources that can be used and their professionalism.
For the first time in compliance with national directives, the Lazio Region entrusts screening programs with a role of primary importance, since prevention has always been the most effective weapon for the treatment of diseases and positively affects people’s health.
These are articulated programs in which the ASLs contact the population and invite them to enter a free prevention pathway that goes from the screening test to in-depth diagnostics to possible surgery.
The new organizational model for screening programs in the Lazio Region calls for the creation in each ASL of a single coordination center for the three cancer screening programs, which under the direction of the screening program coordinator would carry out programming, guidance, planning and management of the pathways. The decree also establishes the central role of the call center through a dedicated toll-free number and provides for the implementation of screening promotion campaigns. Operators involved in the pathways will be required to undergo annual training to keep up to date. At all stages of the pathway there will be constant monitoring and qualitative and quantitative evaluation of each screening intervention.
Individuals in the age group in the screening programs must undergo the tests within the programs organized in the reference ASLs, a system this improves the quality of the services and positively affects the’action of reducing waiting lists.
Alongside the reorganization of cancer screening programs, the decree approved by the Lazio Region finally brings order to a sector in which for too long Lazio health care has relied almost exclusively on the professionalism of health care workers, re-establishing the centrality of the ASLs on the territory and the importance that health care companies must have for citizens.