They arrive Aft: the acronym stands for ‘territorial functional aggregations‘. And they promise to provide patients with better care from general practitioners. This is an innovation strongly desired by Regionwhich in recent days has signed a historical agreement con i family doctors’ unions. The medical offices will be accessible to patients for up to 12 hours a day (from 8am to 8pm) from Monday to Friday. And doctors will work as a team, ensuring greater continuity of care. To clarify the changes we spoke with Daniele Morini, general practitioner and regional secretary of Fimmg (Italian Federation of general practitioners).
Morini, what changes will come? “The Aft will be open from 8am to 8pm, and this will be guaranteed through the integration of group medicine study times. The relationship with your doctor will remain, and in his absence the patient can be visited by another Aft professional. Facilitated access will therefore be guaranteed and will remain the central node of the doctor-patient trust relationship”.
What are the next steps? “Now the AFTs must be set up by the healthcare companies: they have been thought of but have not yet been implemented.”
In what times? “The Region has indicated 9 months: therefore no later than October 1st. Among the issues is also the way in which the compensation will be paid to us, also linked to clinical objectives and appropriateness”.
How many doctors will be able to work in AFT? “It depends, it can vary depending on the number of inhabitants.”
Will ‘countryside’ doctors, who work alone in small clinics, still be able to rely on AFT to be replaced? “For years the law no longer provides for a single doctor, but it has never been applied. The concept is that doctors must all be organized in an associative form, even if in many cases it is necessary to maintain capillarity: I am thinking of small hilly areas or hamlets. However, it is one thing to be alone, another is to belong to an Aft in the valley or in the central part of the plain and keep the single clinic as a satellite. Those who have a single clinic disconnected from others will have to join an group, when the conditions exist to do so. Facilities will be put in place for this.”
Will the current primary care units transform into AFT? “The current nuclei are smaller and do not have all the functions of the AFTs. However, we will start from that base to organize them: the larger nuclei will become AFTs, while the smaller entities will be merged and perhaps from three nuclei two AFTs will be created. Each AFT will have a lead contact person for doctors who will organize the work together with the ASL”.
How will the AFT integrate with territorial structures such as Cau and community houses? “The headquarters of the AFT can be identified by doctors or the local health authority: this is the case of AFT which will be set up in community houses. And the community house as the headquarters of an AFT will have an organization that will include more services than the other AFT: it will be open not only to the patients of that group of doctors, but of that entire district or city and will be able to have longer opening hours. The Cau, on the other hand, will become structures relating to the AFT with services such as clinics for small non-deferrable emergencies of general medicine. their general practitioner will continue to guarantee access to both checks and emergencies, and in the hours in which the patient is not there they will still be able to contact the Aft”.
Will the physical meeting facilities be the responsibility of the doctors? “The physical structures remain in the hands of doctors, as now. Ad hoc contracts will be stipulated for those who will enter the ASL structures. However, the issue must always be discussed between doctors and companies: the AFT structure is available to the entire population, it is likely that the ASL will identify and organize it. And in the few AFTs that do not insist in the community houses, it will be established how to proceed”.
date: 2026-02-12 03:57:00