Doctors on the run, Dr. Olivari: "In the UK I take 4 times what I took in Italy and I work fewer hours"

By Cristiano Antonino On May 11, 2023

The story of Doctor Diego Olivari photographs the precariousness and scarce possibilities of doctors in Italy, especially in the Emergency

The story of Dr. Diego Olivari: seventeen years in the Army, ten spent between one mission and another as a military doctor

Then the leave, the return to civilian life: five years of fixed-term contracts in the emergency room and at 118, between Veneto and Tuscany.

Until landing in Great Britain (with a two-year interlude in Dubai for an underwater and hyperbaric medicine project).

“Since 2017 in England I have had seven interviews and had seven permanent job offers. The last one in the hospital where I work, where they promoted me and put me among the consultants”, says Diego Olivari, originally from the province of Pistoia.

He is one of the many Italian doctors who choose to go to work abroad in search of stability and recognition, while the country’s hospitals have to deal with a constant hemorrhage of professionals, especially in emergency medicine.

Since 2021 Olivari has been responsible for maxi-emergencies at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

“I think it is the sixth largest hospital in England, there is one of the largest universities in the country, not just in medicine.

Here I am a consultant in the Emergency department: I created all the guidelines, the operating procedures, I organize the courses.

They looked for me in April 2021 and I moved here in July.

Before, I worked in Kingston, a very different reality, because in London there is a hospital every ten kilometers.

This is the largest hospital in a county and a half.

They are pushing a lot for us to become a ‘major trauma centre’, because the one they are responsible for is Cambridge, which is an hour’s drive and a 20-minute helicopter flight away,” he says.

How many Italians work in his hospital?

“There is an Italian nurse from Rome who is a ‘lead nurse’, when she is on duty she coordinates the nurses.

There is a vascular surgeon from Turin, there is another very young colleague from Turin who gave up the 118 of his city and flies with the emergency helicopter covering East Anglia.

In total we are about twenty“.

Why do so many young and talented Italian doctors choose to move to England?

“Because they couldn’t find a permanent job in Italy and because their level is much higher than the English, not so much in specializations.

Here the specializations are in many cases better organized, but the level of those who leave the University is better in Italy.

Italian doctors are highly sought after.

When I did the first interviews I was in Dubai: they offered me a job in four different hospitals.

One was in London and I chose that one.

When I went in person to present the papers I asked how long they would put me under contract, they replied that the contract would be ‘until you want to stay’.

If I changed jobs, it was because of my choice”.

All in the NhS, the English public health service.

“Never worked in the private sector”.

Doctor Olivari, when did he get his degree?

“I graduated in Florence in 1999, while attending the military academy.

I remained in the Army until 2009 and participated in missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo dealing with emergency medicine.

At the end of my career I was in the Carabinieri in Padua and I started working on weekends with the 118 as a contracted doctor.

After my leave I started as a medical guard and then, through the agencies, I switched to 118, first in Abano Terme, then I moved to the coast and then they looked for me in Tuscany, at 118 in Livorno, between Piombino and Isola d’ Elba, where I stayed waiting for a permanent contract.

From 2010 to 2015 I worked with quarterly contracts between the 118 of Livorno and Grosseto.

I couldn’t take it anymore and I moved to England for the first time.”

What specialization does he have?

“I’ve always done emergency, but I don’t have any Italian specialization.

Here they have a different system: you have a specialization curriculum, you demonstrate what you have done, you take a couple of exams and you get the specialization.

I have a master’s degree in diving and hyperbaric medicine, for which I went to Dubai, and in England I did Sports Medicine at Cardiff University because I followed freedivers (including divers who worked in the Costa Concordia salvage yard, ed. ).

I’ve always made an emergency in life. Here I met a Calabrian microbiologist colleague, but graduated in Turin, including specialization.

One day he decided to compete in Reggio Calabria, they took him and offered him a one-year contract.

He stayed in England.

In emergencies, the problem is more evident, because it is the sector where there is the greatest need now, but the problem affects all specialties.

In London there is an important associated practice, made up exclusively of Italian doctors.

It’s called Italian Doctors, I think, and they have almost all specialties. They are also highly sought after by the British”.

In short, the Italian state spends money to train its own doctors and is unable to keep them.

“I also do training here and see the newly graduated doctors.

In England, after graduation you have two additional years.

In my second year after graduation I was alone in Kosovo. The preparation is different”.

Doctor Olivari, would you return to Italy?

“The salary I get now is four times what I used to get in Italy.

I have more responsibilities, but I work fewer hours.

So right now: no.

I’ve heard from colleagues who are at 118, emergency room chiefs with whom we are friends: they have offered me three-month, six-month, maybe one-year contracts.

Here I am in charge of the maxi-emergencies of the most important hospital in East Anglia, why should I come back? I have a friend in Italy who has decided to switch to work for agencies.

There is a colleague who is my age and was one of the best doctors in the 118 emergency room of Cecina: he gave up and carries on private practice.

Because he was bored. There is no security.”