Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
The waiting-list situation in the province of Syracuse remains critical. The CGIL union has filed a criminal complaint, citing data from the AGENAS monitoring system to highlight a twofold problem: the failure to meet the maximum set times for healthcare services and the lack of transparency by the provincial health authority (ASP) in publishing availability.
According to the bulletin, while national figures show an improvement, Sicily is moving in the opposite direction. In the first nine months of 2026, compared with the same period in 2025, the share of first visits delivered on time fell from 86.6% to 77.8% and of diagnostic tests from 75.5% to 72.3%. Both figures are far from the 90% target. The picture in Syracuse is even more worrying. The union says the ASP publishes only the first available slot among all providers in the province, preventing citizens from seeing the waiting times at other facilities. CGIL argues that this approach gives a partial picture and hides the real difficulties in accessing care. Weekly data confirm the problems: between 19 and 25 October, only 42.8% of class B services, 56.5% of class D, 60.9% of class P and 81.5% of class U were delivered within the set times.
The consequences fall most heavily on the most vulnerable citizens, who are forced to travel up to 50 kilometres to take the first available slot, accept longer waits at nearby facilities or turn to private healthcare. In some cases they even give up treatment altogether. CGIL also notes that anyone who refuses the first available slot risks losing access to the Percorso di Tutela, which allows patients to pay for the service upfront and then be reimbursed. Examples cited include a 182-day wait for an oesophagogastroduodenoscopy, against a target of 10 days, and 333 days for a vascular-surgery appointment, also supposed to be within 10 days. CGIL is therefore calling for full publication of waiting lists for all providers, a review of the territorial guarantee area to bring it back to the district of residence, and changes to the Percorso di Tutela so that it remains accessible even to those who turn down a distant slot when the nearest facility fails to meet the maximum waiting times.
The ASP response
Regarding the recent CGIL remarks on waiting times, the special commissioner of the ASP of Syracuse, Gioacchino Iraci, has intervened in a constructive spirit, firmly rejecting any accusation of misleading conduct against the authority.
The ASP operates in full compliance with the national regulations on data monitoring and the publication of territorial information. The regional trend highlighted by the AGENAS data must be read in the light of the specific territorial context and comparable periods, taking into account priority classes and first access, without automatically applying the same trend to the Syracuse authority. Internal figures, by contrast, certify an extraordinary and concrete effort by the authority and its professionals. According to data from the single booking centre and the authority’s management control, in the first nine months of 2026 activity increased by 10% in hospitals and by 16.5% in outpatient services compared with the same period the previous year.
“We are well aware of the persistent problems in certain branches—such as digestive endoscopy, vascular surgery and ophthalmology—mainly due to the well-known difficulty in finding specialist doctors that affects the entire National Health Service,” said special commissioner Gioacchino Iraci. “We fully understand the hardship of citizens who have to travel for treatment, especially the elderly, the frail or those with transport difficulties. However, proximity of care must be balanced with the availability of doctors and the skills and experience needed to ensure quality and safety. Not all services can be provided at every location. For this reason, too, we are strengthening care pathways through dedicated disease networks, the work of the Oncology Welcome Centre (CAO), which since its establishment has received 3,893 calls, all handled by staff and met with appreciation from users, and the Percorsi di Tutela. From January to September 2026, 1,441 Percorsi di Tutela were managed, a vital tool for finding a concrete solution when a service cannot be provided within the required time. We want to ensure direct support from the authority so that no user is left alone in their care journey.”
