Fondazione The Bridge (FTB) has always been active, since its inception, in the skillful use and processing of resources and data collected transparently and effectively to develop intervention projects in healthcare & welfare, supporting patients' needs, developing prevention plans, promoting scientific & social research, assisting health structures with additional professional assets, offering advice to decision-makers, promoting sustainable and universal health policies. 

Having this mission in mind and hoping to get relevant information as a basis to produce tools for the efficiency of the Italian healthcare system, FTB was among the first institutions, at the beginning of the pandemic, to raise the theme of how citizens perceived Covid-19, and in this regard had commissioned a first survey in February aimed at five hundred inhabitants of the city of Milan. The survey had the purpose to broaden the scope of observation, passing from purely health aspects - abundantly debated these days - to the importance of factors related to the experience and reactions of people during the spreading of an infectious disease. 

A month after that survey, it seemed important to deepen the perception of people at national level - in consideration to the fact that the whole population was in lockdown - regarding the quality of health services, methods of access to facilities and perception of methods of communication in pandemic emergency times. For this reason, FTB created a new survey for all citizens on Italian soil, from which interesting - and in some cases alarming - data emerged, especially in relation to the monitoring of people in quarantine, the management of chronic patients in pandemic phase and the future management of health appointments and treatments waiting lists.

We had also designed a questionnaire for patient associations to highlight any critical issues emerged during the pandemic and, at the same time, to understand how to improve the National Health Service to face a state of emergency. The most relevant results showed difficulties in accessing visits, specific treatments and therapies. All associations highlighted the struggle in dealing with the amount of requested information and support from patients, which demosntrated the lack of effective assistance by the welfare system. 

In conclusion, the data we had gathered provides clear evidence of the need for future plans to design efficient "Emergency Preparedness and Response" programs to help citizens understand the phenomenon of possible contagion and its management, in synergy and with the aid of all institutions.

To read the full analysis of the survey aimed at the Italian general public, please click here.

Published on 14 May 2020.