Today, 25 August 2026, the Piedmont Region published the results of the call for the Specific Training Course in General Medicine for the 2026-2029 triennium.[1] The numbers stopped everyone who read them. The region had nearly doubled available training grants — from 170 to 300 — to address the GP shortage. Applications submitted: 288. For the first time in Italy, available places exceed candidates. The estimated need is 685 physicians. None of the three numbers comes close to the others.
This is not a Piedmont problem. It is the most concrete signal seen so far of a systemic crisis: there is no shortage of places to become a GP — there is a shortage of candidates. For years, the problem was framed as a shortage of training capacity. Piedmont increased available places by 76%. The market's response said otherwise.
Why young Italian physicians no longer choose general practice
Pay below European average
The Italian GP earns 22% less than the OECD average. Against an average of 1,500 patients, remuneration does not reflect the volume and complexity of work. Young physicians prefer hospital specialties or private practice.
Clinical isolation and lack of team
The GP model in Italy is still predominantly that of the solo practitioner. Without dedicated nurses, without medical reception, without administrative support: everything falls on the physician. Community Health Centres promise to change this — but are still at 4% operability.
Unsustainable bureaucratic burden
Prescriptions, reports, certificates, FSE, audits, waiting lists to manage: a GP with 1,500 patients spends on average 5 hours per day on documentation. For young physicians who have seen older colleagues in these conditions, it is a powerful deterrent.
Medico-legal risk perceived as high
Perceived medico-legal risk has increased significantly. The criminal liability shield extension (Milleproroghe 2026, until December 2026) covers only gross negligence — not enough to reassure young physicians about professional vulnerability.
The 4 main reasons why young Italian physicians avoid general practice — 2026
The vicious circle
Fewer candidates for general practice → more patients per existing GP → worse working conditions → even fewer candidates. Piedmont broke the equation on the training supply side. But the problem was and remains on the attractiveness side. Until GP working conditions — pay, isolation, bureaucracy, medico-legal risk — change structurally, increasing places is not enough.
Piedmont today said what the data had been saying for years: increasing places does not solve the GP crisis. General practice must be made desirable. And to do that, one must start from what makes it unsustainable today: the bureaucratic burden, isolation, pay. These are political and contractual problems. But while waiting for them to be resolved, every hour taken from bureaucracy is an hour returned to the patient — and to professional quality of life.
See also our articles on generational renewal of Italian physicians, on Italian physician burnout and on the documentation time calculation.
What does it mean that Piedmont has fewer applications than places for GP training?
It means that for the first time in Italy, demand for general practice training cannot fill the available places. Piedmont nearly doubled its training grants (from 170 to 300) for the 2026-2029 triennium, but applications stopped at 288. The estimated need is 685 GPs. The signal is worrying: even by significantly increasing places and grants, general practice cannot attract enough candidates. The problem is no longer one of training capacity — it is one of professional attractiveness.
How many GPs are missing in Italy today?
According to the GIMBE Foundation, approximately 5,700 GPs are missing relative to national need. The shortage is distributed across 18 out of 20 regions, with peaks in the South. The national average is 1,383 patients per physician, but in many areas it exceeds 1,500 — the maximum limit set by agreements. By 2030, an estimated 15,000-20,000 more GPs are expected to retire. Without a clear reversal in the candidate curve, the gap will deepen further.
Will Community Health Centres solve the GP problem?
Partially, in the long term. Community Health Centres should change the GP working model: from solo practitioner to member of a multiprofessional team with nurses, physiotherapists, social workers. This would address some causes of the flight — clinical isolation and administrative burden. However, currently only 4% of the PNRR-planned Community Health Centres are fully operational. The problem is structural and requires years to address, while the shortage is already acute today.
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