The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Community Psychiatric Services in Northern Italy

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, started brutally in February 2020 in Northern Italy (first European area hit by virus), has induced the most drastic and prolonged containment measures by a European government. The most affected areas of the Italian territory were Lombardy and Veneto. A severe and global lock-down was ordered for more than two months, with the closure of essential medical services among others. All health resources have been diverted to address the health crisis caused by the pandemic. During the lock-down, however, the only community medicine services that remained open were mental health services: psychiatry, the area of addictions, child neuropsychiatry. The community facilities have always provided services favoring, on the one hand, the maintenance of care and rehabilitation paths for patients in care, and on the other, allowing anyone who needs to have access to treatment. The operators were also involved at the forefront in the management of covid + patients and in the support paths for the management of the operators’ stress. In this chapter, we want to describe the working conditions and the organizational responses of our services, referring to a large catchment area of the region most affected by covid-19.