Hospital Services managed to streamline patient care pathways

The core task of Hospital Services is to ensure smooth access to basic-level ward care for all patients in Western Uusimaa, sufficient capacity to meet the needs of residents, and high-quality multidisciplinary care and rehabilitation on the wards.

As recently as 2022, before the launch of the wellbeing services county, there were still delays in patients’ access to care in some municipalities, which resulted in transfer delay fees.

After the launch of the wellbeing services county, the objective was to streamline access to care and reduce transfer delay fees. Achieving this objective required a number of changes.

At the beginning of 2023, the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County introduced a new patient guidance model for hospital services, where the place of further treatment is determined according to the patient’s need for treatment, regardless of municipality of residence.

“The change has been visible to the residents in that follow-up care is no longer necessarily provided at the same municipality as before,” says Laura Koikkalainen, Medical Director of Hospital Services at the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County.

Koikkalainen manages the patient traffic in the entire wellbeing services county with the help of two treatment coordinators.

“It is more important than care in the home municipality to ensure that all patients have access to the follow-up care they need at emergency clinics and specialised medical care wards as quickly as possible and without a long wait.”

According to Koikkalainen, thanks to the changes in Hospital Services and the close cooperation of the entire staff, the number of patients waiting for follow-up care in specialised medical care wards has significantly decreased and transfer delay fees have been reduced. Koikkalainen says that, during office hours, patient guidance treatment coordinators are responsible for finding all patients who need follow-up care a ward that meets their treatment needs.

The entire Hospital Services staff deserves a big thanks for the achievement.

“Compared to 2023, the number of transfer delay fees paid by the wellbeing services county to HUS has decreased by about 60%.” 

Home hospital care is now the primary form of hospital care, and investments have been made to develop it. Home hospital activities expanded to the entire wellbeing services county when the Raasepori and Lohja home hospitals were transferred from HUS to the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County at the beginning of 2024 through a business transfer procedure.

“Now all residents in Western Uusimaa have the possibility to receive hospital-level care in their homes, provided by the home hospital. If a patient is assessed to need inpatient care and rehabilitation in a ward at the beginning of the treatment period, the patient will still have the possibility to be discharged home later on with the support of the home hospital,” says Koikkalainen.

As patients are currently treated in all Hospital Services wards, according to the patient’s need for treatment and regardless of municipality of residence, there have been persistent efforts to streamline the discharge processes in the wards. Cooperation with other service lines of the Elderly Services, Housing Services, Senior Info and Support Services for Living at Home is daily and close. 

In addition to the development of patient guidance, Hospital Services has also strengthened the discharge teams in the specialised medical care wards.

“The nurses and therapists in a discharge team assist the specialised medical care staff with discharges so that as many patients as possible are able to return home smoothly without having to transfer to a basic-level ward. Discharge team activities are carried out at the Jorvi campus, Lohja and Meilahti.”