Development of service network

The health stations offering essential services would consistently provide appointments with nurses and doctors. Additionally, they would offer rehabilitation, mental health and substance abuse, oral health, and social services as required.

The operations of these health stations would be coordinated with regular health stations to ensure that every resident in the wellbeing services county has access to the necessary services as close to them as possible. Laboratory services would be widely available across the region, potentially in the form of mobile sample collection.

Before any possible transition to an essential-service health station, an implementation plan will be developed. This plan would evaluate the service needs of the local population, outline the services to be provided at the health station, and assess how these services, in conjunction with nearby health stations, would meet the population’s needs. 

Essential-service health stations would be open daily during business hours, or less frequently. Services could be offered regularly or brought in based on client needs. Extensive digital services would complement these local services.

The plan is to centralize oral health services in larger units. Additionally, essential-service health stations and other local facilities could offer dental check-ups, for example.

Dental care for pupils would be offered at dental clinics centralized to larger units. Pupils could also receive services at essential-service health stations, and to a limited extent, through mobile units. The service offerings at these health stations and mobile units would be less extensive compared to larger clinics.

The proposed network of services does not include changes to home care services. Home care services are continuously being developed in Western Uusimaa, and the mobile hospital LiiSa is being expanded across the region. 

Continuity of care is a crucial aspect of high-quality services. In practice, some health stations in Western Uusimaa already use a team model, where clients with significant service needs are assigned a personal contact person. Additionally, we will soon launch a practitioner model pilot, where experienced general medical practitioners provide the services for their designated population. One goal of this pilot is to enhance continuity of care. 

Improving primary-level services is our most important goal in reforming the network of services. This reform aims to provide high-quality local services and faster access to care. This also includes preventive services.

The impact assessment focuses on the availability and accessibility of services, as well as the overall effects on staff. The Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County will maintain a regionally comprehensive network of services, which will also support the fulfilment of linguistic rights. The increasing need for services necessitates local services outside municipal centres now and in the future. 

We believe the current call-back service does not adequately serve our residents. Therefore, we intend to reform it in the future. There are still some changes to phone numbers to be made related to the health and social services reform. Changes to phone services must be carefully planned and implemented to ensure our residents can easily access our services. 

In 2024, state funding for the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County is 1.77 billion euros. The municipal funding transferred for the Wellbeing Services County’s services did not match the actual costs of providing these services. At the same time, the state budget is tight, and wellbeing services counties are forced to cut costs.

The law mandates wellbeing services counties to maintain a balanced budget. In Western Uusimaa, we aim to reduce costs by approximately 50 million euros in 2024 through measures that impact our residents’ services as little as possible. Our wellbeing services county is among the best in the country in terms of achieving financial stability. 

Following the health and social services reform, we have significantly improved the student welfare situation. We have recruited 24 new school psychologist and 13 school social workers. Now, a higher number of young people in our region have access to these professionals than before.

We also operate a centralized psychologist service unit for schools that do not have a dedicated psychologist.

The increasing need for services necessitates local services outside municipal centres now and in the future. The Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County will maintain a regionally comprehensive network of services, supported by extensive digital services. Our local services would be supported by the aforementioned essential-service health stations, for instance.

The majority of our services are provided directly to clients’ homes. For example, home care services alone makes over 2.1 million visits annually to homes in Western Uusimaa. 

Based on last year's assessment, Western Uusimaa has 4032 civil protection shelters, offering emergency shelter for approximately 460 000 residents. This covers around 96% of the population in Western Uusimaa.

A civil protection shelter refers to a separate space or building designed to protect civilians from military threats. These shelters are located where residents live, move around, and work.

The owner of the building is responsible for the upkeep of its civil protection shelter. The Rescue Act mandates that shelters be inspected every 10 years. The shelters are classified into different protection levels based on their construction year.

These civil protection shelters protect against explosions, shrapnel, collapsing buildings, pressure waves, ionizing radiation, and chemical weapons. They range in size from individual, room-sized shelters to large shelters carved into rock.

Currently, Finland has about 52 000 shelters with room for 4.2 million residents. Most shelters, about 85%, are private, steel-reinforced concrete shelters in residential and commercial buildings. There are also larger, common rock shelters.

We have decided to discontinue the use of the Apotti client and patient information system in Kauniainen, which also includes the digital service channel Maisa. However, Maisa will remain in use for specialized healthcare at HUS.

Our Wellbeing Services County currently has 11 different client and patient information systems, which pose several challenges for staff and clients.

We will procure a unified client and patient information system in 2024, in collaboration with the Wellbeing Services County of East Uusimaa. Our residents will have access to higher quality digital services in the future.