by InTrieste
After more than two years of negotiations, the Friuli Venezia Giulia regional government and unions representing general practitioners have reached an agreement on a new regional contract for family doctors, resolving several longstanding disputes.
The deal introduces measures aimed at improving working conditions and patient care. Beginning January 1, doctors who apply for support to hire office assistants will be eligible for the subsidy without limits tied to available resources or the size of their patient roster.
The agreement also outlines provisions for doctors working in community health centers. Physicians may volunteer for up to 10 additional hours a week, compensated at €60 per hour. In addition, female doctors who are pregnant, those with young children, or doctors with disabilities may request to reduce their patient load from 1,500 to 1,000. These changes, however, will require specific regional legislation before they can take effect.
Other measures include agreements on tourist medical coverage, services in prisons, and the extension of weekday group practice coverage from eight to twelve hours for physicians working in functional territorial associations.
Union leaders largely welcomed the outcome. “It is perhaps one of the best regional agreements signed so far,” said Stefano Vignando, regional president of SNAMI, one of the doctors’ unions. He credited the result to unity among the unions and the willingness of the regional administration to compromise.
Fernando Agrusti, secretary of Fimmg FVG, described the text as strong from multiple perspectives, while Lorenzo Cociani, secretary of Smi FVG, noted he would have preferred a structural involvement of doctors in community health centers rather than an hourly framework. Still, he acknowledged the contract marked an improvement over the previous one.
The last regional supplementary agreement dated back a decade and covered the period 2016 to 2018. The new contract incorporates elements of the most recent two national collective agreements and will serve as a framework for further accords at the level of individual health authorities.
Union representatives highlighted another notable development: for the first time in years, all unions are expected to sign the agreement.
