Beginning in January 2026, one in four emergency rooms in Italy may be operating with less than half of the doctors they need. The warning comes from the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine (Simeu), which conducted a survey for the 2025 Directors’ Academy, revealing widespread staffing shortages across nearly all regions.
The study examined around 50 emergency departments that registered a combined 2.3 million patient visits in 2024. According to the findings, 26% of ERs will have medical coverage below 50%, while 39% will fall between 50% and 75%. Only a third of the facilities will exceed 75% of their theoretical staffing levels.
Despite a slight improvement compared to previous years, the situation remains critical. Simeu notes that the expiry of contracts introduced during the pandemic and the gradual reduction of collaborations with external service providers, combined with limited hiring, are contributing to the strain.
Key factors behind the crisis include difficulties in recruiting new emergency physicians, high workloads, insufficient incentives, and ongoing retirements and resignations, all of which continue to deplete medical teams.
Without a stable recruitment plan, Simeu warns that temporary measures—such as extra shifts or hiring professionals from outside the national health service—will remain necessary. The association urges the government to adopt a national strategy that strengthens emergency medicine and supports the training of new specialists.