Neurology, Urology and Otorhinolaryngology: Gallarate and Busto combine beds

Optimising to improve the service. This is what the director of the Valle Olona ASST Hospital, Giuseppe Brazzoli, had said from the very beginning. “At a time of difficulty, we have to work to make improvements, while keeping careful control over expenditure.” And so, with the summer plan, which began on 7 June, the hospital in Busto gave the go-ahead also to reorganisation of Neurology, Otorhinolaryngology and Urology.

At the time of their installation, the administration raised the problem of duplication at the various hospitals, a luxury that can no longer be afforded. The first department to undergo rationalisation was Neurology, with the closure of the in-patient beds in Busto Arsizio and concentration of resources and people in the department, which is newer and more equipped, in Gallarate. As the Medical Director, Dr Caterina Tridico, explained, “We want to emphasise that the specialist available to Casualty and to any colleagues that might need consultation will continue to work in Busto. All of the outpatient departments are going to remain open. We also have Saturday opening, and we’re working on evening opening.” So, it is only the beds that are going, and moving to Gallarate, and Saronno has opened a new, recently renovated department.

A similar approach has been decided for Otorhinolaryngology and Urology. In these two cases, the beds that have been closed are in the Sant’Antonio Hospital in Gallarate. “We’ve made an effort to increase the capacity of the department in Busto, as much as possible; there are now 20 beds (about a dozen were closed in Gallarate) and the same number for Urology. As a result of the arrival of these two surgical specialties, we’ve also increased the work of the operating theatres. They had one theatre that was still not operational, even though it was approved, so we’ve increased the service. And in Gallarate, the outpatient departments for both of the specialties, and the presence of physicians for the Casualty Department and consultations are guaranteed.”

In this organising effort, a small miracle was also achieved to ensure that all of the hospital paediatric departments would open. The shortage of personnel, made worse by the retirement of the head physician in Saronno, Giovanni Montrasio, and by his replacement by Dr Gianpaolo Mirri, who is coming from Gallarate, raised the alarm: without personnel, and with the rotation as a result of the imminent holidays, the idea was put forward to close the departments alternately, first in Gallarate, then in Busto: “We’ve avoided this, thanks to a thorough search of professionals,” the Director said. “We’ve recruited two paediatricians, who are joining our team to guarantee the service, even in Angera, where it is essential for an area that isn’t central.”

So, the hospital’s holiday plan will entail the limited closure of beds associated with scheduled surgery. However, the changes to Urology, Neurology and Otorhinolaryngology will be final, once the monitoring period is over.