When I needed a doctor in Italy, I discovered what good healthcare looks like

Imagine being able to see a doctor as soon as you needed to or, even better, seeing a specialist for a non-urgent consultation straight away. In Australia, waiting a week or more to see a GP is common, while specialist appointments can take months. And with bulk billing practitioners becoming harder and harder to find, options for those who can’t afford to pay are becoming fewer.

But what if it wasn’t like this? Imagine knowing that whatever happened, there was a system in place to make sure you received the care you needed.

Tourists in Rome, Italy, where foreigners and citizens receive free healthcare.Credit: Bloomberg

When I had to navigate the public health system in Italy, I got a glimpse of what accessible, affordable and high-quality healthcare looks like, and it was eye-opening.

I wasn’t sick, but I had found a strange spot on my skin – and because I am fair-skinned and freckled – I’m vigilant about skin cancer. With another two months before I headed home, I didn’t want to wait to have it seen.

I could share all the details of my interaction with the doctor, who told me I had nothing to worry about, but recommended I see a dermatologist so that I could put my worries to rest. I could also tell you about the kindness of the pharmacist who drew me a map to the doctor’s clinic, or about the two mortuary attendants who gave me a lift to the correct part of the hospital when I was lost, or the friendly doctors and nurses keen to chat about Australia while they typed up my papers.

But the real point of the story is that the day I needed to see a doctor, I was able to access a clinic, and after only an hour’s wait, see a GP. The next day, when I went to the local hospital to consult a dermatologist, I was seen straight away. Again, not because it was an emergency, but because specialists in Italy work in public hospitals and see walk-in patients.

Over two days, I spent just two hours in the public system. In that time, I saw a GP, a nurse, a triage doctor, and a specialist. The hospital was clean; the staff were competent, kind and calm. They didn’t look like they were working under pressure. It wasn’t crowded and, at the end, there were no bills to pay.

As well as the treatment, I received something else that is unavailable to many people in Australia: the unquantifiable but transformative knowledge that, even as a foreigner, if I needed medical care, help would be there.

While this might seem hard to believe, the figures speak for themselves.

Italy created its public healthcare system in 1978, three years after Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam’s first iteration of universal healthcare in Australia came into effect. Their system assumes that healthcare is “a human right that should be provided to everyone regardless of their ability to pay” and was created on the foundational principles of “universality, equality and solidarity”. Those ideas are still defended in Italy; the concept of universal healthcare in Australia, though, not so much.

According to World Population Review data, the average wait time to see a GP in Italy is less than 24 hours, and the wait time to see a specialist is less than one month. In Australia, 14 per cent of people wait more than a day to see a GP, while 39 per cent wait longer than a month to see a specialist. While it’s estimated that no more than 10 per cent of Italians have private health insurance, in Australia, that figure balloons to 54.6 per cent.

Universal healthcare is an investment not just because healthy societies are more productive, but because it’s also a crucial part of the social safety net that positively impacts mental health, reduces childhood poverty, and increases inclusion and gender equality.

Despite access to high-quality healthcare is also ranking consistently as a top priority for voters across Australia, over the years, our expectations about what we are entitled to and how we will pay for it have been severely eroded over time. Despite the best efforts of our health workers, the idea that we have a functioning universal healthcare system now seems like a sick joke to many, especially if you are on a low income or live in a regional or remote part of Australia.

I’m not claiming that a single experience is representative of an entire system. Not everyone who needs a specialist will be as lucky as I was, but I doubt my experience could be replicated in Australia.

The Italian government is far from perfect, but when it comes to providing public healthcare it puts Australia to shame.

My brief encounter with the Italian health system reminded me what a great public health system can and should be.

Justine Costigan is a Melbourne-based writer and editor.

The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.