- ROME, OCTOBER 21 - The trust of Italians in pharmacies is high: almost 64% of citizens think they have no problem going to the pharmacy to take advantage of any new services, such as booking tests and collecting reports, diagnostic analyzes and home assistance. This is what emerges from a survey conducted by the business management school of the Bocconi University of Milan and promoted by the Federation of Italian Pharmacists' Orders (Fofi) and by the Francesco Cannavo' Foundation. The results of the survey were presented today in Rome. The study, which aims to identify which services the pharmacy can choose to provide in support of the National Health Service, highlights how the 70% of citizens would not know which services to request from the pharmacy, while one in five Italians proposed services similar to those envisaged by the legislative decree approved by the Council of Ministers on 2 October last. Finally, 9.1% of the Italians interviewed thought of services other than those envisaged by the Legislative Decree, first of all vaccination. There are also many Italians who would not hesitate to dip into their wallets to access services outside the NHS. Over 57.6% of the sample interviewed believe that prevention must be paid for. The same applies to services such as routine checkups (55.8%), nursing services (55%) and home care (53.4%). According to Andrea Mandelli, president of Fofi, “a new challenge is opening up for pharmacists who do not want to replace the work of doctors or nurses with these services. Now – he concluded – it will be important for the pharmacies to join forces because it will be the cooperatives that will help the pharmacist to face the problem of the new services to be offered”.
ANSA – 21/10/2009 17:40
