Bridging public health and primary care in an Italian Urban Area. Lessons learnt from pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic represented a disruptive event for all sectors, especially the healthcare one. It revealed weakness of healthcare systems, often organised in silos, and called for a great coordination among several stakeholders. Different healthcare organizational solutions were implemented in order to address this extraordinary situation. This study investigates the impact of an organizational innovation, District Operation Centres (DOCs), of a Local Health Authority (LHA) in Rome aimed at responding overall to primary care and public health (PH) needs during the first phases of pandemic. In the DOCs health districts professionals supported general physicians (GPs) and family paediatricians (FPs), acting as a bridge with the PH Department, in order to better manage COVID-19 patients and close contacts. To understand the utility and the areas of support to GPs and FPs a survey (21 open questions or on a Likert scale), realised according the Delphi method, was admnistered to them. The sample was calculated using Epi Info, randomization was performed through Excel. A descriptive analysis of the sample and of the answers was carried out. When appropriate, statistical tests were used to understand differences among districts. 215 doctors were interviewed between Dec 2020 and Jan 2021. More than 50% declared to have found DOCs useful, above all for guiding to legislation and to activate medical equipes to deliver swabs at home. The support was evaluated not good regarding COVID-19 cases/contacts and cluster(s) management. Further needs as support in frail patients’ management, involvement of specialists, delivery of telemedicine, more involvement of GPs/FPs in district activities were identified. DOCs were an attempt to support GPs/FPs in improving care to COVID-19 patients/contacts. To provide this new service in the pandemic emergency denotes great leadership in the LHA to yield collaboration among several stakeholeders and vision about patient-centered healthcare. KEY MESSAGES: • Although several limits like need of more integration, DOCs represent an experience aimed at overcoming duality between primary care and public health systems and the fragmentation of the system. • DOCs could be considered an organizational innovation to make the system more resilient and patient-centered.