[The hospital social service: a multi-year personal experience]

Among the categories of "health producers" in reference to the recently concluded hearing at the Ministry of health (8-10 July 2019) has space for the Hospital Social Service to which Social Workers are employed operating at public hospitals in Rome since 1970 when their function was mainly addressed to the individual hospitalized person establishing a "helping relationship" with the patient. From 1970 to today, there have been profound socio-cultural, legislative and regulatory changes that have induced Social Workers to adapt part of their functions to the "New" by facing a progressive growth of "social" problems forced to resolve during hospitalization. , thus highlighting a territorial shortage of care attributable also to the lack of information on the existential conditions of the residents of a specific Municipality. Given the multi-problematic nature of the hospitalized persons, also of the Social Worker, (unaccompanied minor migrants, drug addicts, psychiatric patients, elderly people alone, etc.) and in consideration of the DRGs, the hospital Social Worker finds himself doing a job network by establishing collaborations with the various socio-health structures (retirement homes, post-acute care homes, rehabilitation, etc.) which, after passing the acute phase in the hospital, can welcome the patient according to his pathology, the characteristics of its medical-social or only social need. From an individual work of support to the patient, therefore, a "managerial" activity is highlighted as the subject to be assisted becomes the entire socio-health organization. It is desirable that the aims of Public Health are fully implemented with the possibility of using integrated health services of better quality and functionality and which act as a filter for hospitalization when this is not necessary except for organic problems in phase acute.