Bologna, June 4, 2026 – Thirteen **AFTs** already open in the **Bologna area**, out of a total of 15-16 that will soon complete the range of territorial services whose backbone are, in fact, the **Territorial Functional Aggregations**, i.e., groups of doctors who guarantee a presence every day of the week, including night.
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The new system is explained by Michele Meschi, health director of the Bologna Local Health Authority: “We started on March 25, the first two were Sasso Marconi and Zola Predosa, we have opened 13 so far and they are to be added to the CAUs which are currently integrated into the AFT outpatient clinic system – he clarifies – but since the needs addressed by a CAU patient are the same as those of the AFTs, such as fever, dermatological problems, sore throat, they will gradually be ‘absorbed’ by the AFT outpatient clinics, as foreseen by the doctors’ supplementary contract.”
AFT outpatient clinic days and hours
Regarding the hours, the director clarifies “that these AFT outpatient clinics, through the coordination of doctors between private activity with their patients and the AFT, must guarantee continuous assistance. Citizens in the Community Houses have a doctor 24/7 in those that are hubs, i.e., the larger ones like Navile, and in the others, smaller ones, 12 hours from Monday to Saturday, and on Sundays and holidays there is an emergency medical service.”
The health director also takes stock of the June 2 long weekend “which was a bit of a litmus test for aggregations. It’s an evolving start – he clarifies – because people still refer to the CAUs for non-serious pathologies. Over the last weekend, however, there were over 240 accesses to AFT outpatient clinics, especially those in via Mengoli, Colombi, while in the periphery mainly in Crevalcore, but also in via Faenza. 98% of these accesses concluded with patients returning home. And emergency rooms did not experience any peaks.”
Where AFTs are located in Bologna and its province
The director explains that the AFTs activated in the city are: in the Community House of Porto-Saragozza, via Colombi, Pilastro, Mengoli, via Faenza. In the province: Crevalcore, San Giovanni in Persiceto, Calderara, Bazzano, Budrio, Castenaso, Baricella, Sasso Marconi and Zola Predosa, in the Apennines there is the Community House with the CAU, the AFT of Castiglione dei Pepoli is opening, while Molinella is a bit further behind.
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Meschi returns to the Apennines announcing that “in October we will finalize local negotiations with the unions and identify other service delivery points for citizens in areas that are particularly monitored. An inter-company AFT with Ferrara is also planned, in Pieve di Cento. Then we are also thinking about something in Pianoro.”
We pose a question to the director that many people wonder: if my family doctor decides not to join the AFTs, but I need assistance and he is not available because, for example, he is on vacation, can I turn to a doctor from the AFT group? “Certainly – replies the director –. The AFT outpatient clinics that we deliberately placed within the Community Houses are open to all citizens. Also to students or workers, provided they are residents or domiciled in Emilia-Romagna.”
CAUs still active: where they are
The CAUs still active, as Meschi says, are: San Lazzaro, Navile, Casalecchio di Reno, Budrio and Vergato. A mention also of the OSCOs, community hospitals, which have all been activated: “At Palagi (within Sant’Orsola), Bazzano, Loiano, San Giovanni in Persiceto, San Pietro in Casale and the 10 intermediate care beds in Vergato hospital: a total of 101 beds – as Meschi emphasizes – for needs that are predominantly assistance-based, motor rehabilitation or non-serious exacerbations of chronic pathologies. The services, Meschi announces, will further increase when the continuity of care center, which will network everything, becomes fully operational.
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