Gimbe: 82% of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan's resources have not been spent.

As of June 30, the four deadlines for the PNRR's Health Mission, set by the end of the second quarter, had been met, including two European ones. However, one year after the final reporting date, at least five of the 14 European targets to be achieved are behind schedule, and 82% of the resources remain unspent. This is evidenced by independent monitoring by the Gimbe Observatory, which warns: "To guarantee benefits to citizens, a race against time is needed." "Meeting the formal deadlines required for approval of the disbursement of installments is not, at this final stage, a reliable indicator of the true progress of the projects," observes President Nino Cartabellotta.
Among the most critical issues, according to Gimbe, are the reorganization of community care and the expansion of intensive and semi-intensive care beds. Regarding the former, "the target calls for at least 1,038 Community Homes to be fully operational by June 30, 2026, equipped with services and healthcare personnel. However, as of December 2024, only 164 facilities (15.8%) had activated all planned services, and of these, just 46 (4.4%) had medical and nursing staff." Furthermore, within a year, "at least 307 Community Hospitals, the intermediate facilities for receiving patients discharged from acute care hospitals, should be fully operational. However, as of December 20, 2024, only 124 facilities (40.4%) reported at least one active service, and no information on healthcare personnel is reported." "The goal of strengthening intermediate care risks being undermined," Cartabellotta emphasizes.
Regarding intensive and semi-intensive care beds, according to Gimbe, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) calls for the activation of "2,692 intensive care beds and 3,230 semi-intensive care beds" by June 2026. However, as of March 21, 2025, only 890 intensive care beds (33.1%) and 1,199 semi-intensive care beds (37.1%) have been activated. "It is surreal that five years after the pandemic, Italy has still not managed to complete an essential infrastructure to deal with future health emergencies," says Cartabellotta.
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