Organization, structures and staff in mental health services

How will the network of Italian mental health services be structured in view of the health care reorganization drawn up by Ministerial Decree no. 77/2022 and by the State-Regions Agreement of December 21, 2022, on the "new methodology for calculating the personnel needs of the National Health System"? Changes concern organizational and structural aspects and the personnel standards needed for the full functioning of the community mental health system. It is undoubtedly a step forward to promote the overcoming of inter-regional inequalities and to quantify personnel needs in an area of public health which in the last decade has seen an increase in the demand for care, made exponential by the effects produced by the COVD-19 pandemic, conflicts and economic crisis. The estimates proposed show that the full application of the standards would lead to an expenditure for mental health equal to 3.6% of the public health funding.