finland
Mrs Hannele Häkkinen HOPE Governor, The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities
Could you outline the strategy / approach adopted in your country on quality and patient safety or the two / three initiatives in the hospital and healthcare sector in the past 10 years? According to the Healthcare Act( No. 1326 / 2010), Section 8 on quality and patient safety, the provision of healthcare services shall be evidencebased. The healthcare services provided shall comply with the highest quality standards and be properly organised. Each healthcare unit shall produce a plan for quality management and for ensuring patient safety. The plan shall include arrangements for improving patient safety in cooperation with social services. The issues to be covered in the plan are laid down by decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
The Patient Safety Strategy has been released for the years 2017 – 2021. It will help to develop a cohesive safety culture.
Disease-specific quality registers are patients’ groups or disease-specific care monitoring systems that support the daily care of patients. They gather structured clinical data that can be used for monitoring the effectiveness and quality of treatments. Disease-specific quality registers are being used to monitor 52 disease groups. A register for 27 additional groups of diseases is under development.
HaiPro is a web-based tool for reporting patient safety incidents. It is used by over 200 social service and healthcare organisations of various sizes: from small healthcare centres to entire hospital districts. The HaiPro reporting system supports the development of procedures within the organisation.
The Healthcare and Social Services Act, stating the division of activities among hospitals, emergency services, first aid and emergency social services has been reformed in 2018. The objective is to guarantee equal access to services, sufficient skills and knowledge, patient safety and to decrease health expenditure.
In Finland, the patient orientation is highlighted in healthcare planning, implementation and evaluation. Patients have been involved as experts in governmental working groups
The Health and Social Services Act reforming process is ongoing.
Could you present us the two / three expectations that your organisation / country have today on improving the quality of healthcare using the experiences and competencies of patients? In Finland, the patient orientation is highlighted in healthcare planning, implementation and evaluation. Patients have been involved as experts in government working groups. The development of healthcare and social welfare provision will be based on patients’ experiences and participation.
One of the government key projects is the establishment of a model based on expert’ s experience and patient involvement. In Central Finland Healthcare District, forms of co-design have been developed in specialised medical care, primary healthcare, social welfare and municipal welfare work. The aim is to increase patient and citizen participation in planning, preparation and evaluation of healthcare services by collecting feedback on their experience. A model of co-design for patient-driven self-management of noncommunicable diseases was developed. Observations based on expert experience in psychiatric departments were provided in 2017.
In Satakunta Hospital District, a patient panel participated in the planning and construction of a new hospital. The panel gathers patients’ feedbacks to develop services and products and to create or test new ideas.
One of the government key projects is the development of virtual hospital services. Finnish university hospitals are building a joint national virtual hospital, which, in practical terms, means a digital service hub for specialist healthcare. It aims to develop patient-oriented digital healthcare services for citizens, patients and professionals. The project, which runs from 2016 to 2018, is a joint initiative coordinated by the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District HUS. In developing digital healthcare services, the patients and their needs define the core of the service and the value chain that is built around it. In the Virtual Hospital 2.0 project, the patient’ s voice has been affirmed in such a way that the current e-service development model brings patients, their close friends and patients’ organisations into service planning and design.
Inclusion methods are based on patients’ interviews, service design workshops, participation at working groups, and patient relationship management. The service design also includes experienced experts, peer educators, and specialist patients’ organisations. finland
|
2000 |
2008 |
2015 |
Total health expenditure as % of Gross Domestic Product( GDP) |
6.8 % |
8.1 % |
9.4 % |
Percentage of current public expenditure on health as % of total current health expenditure |
71.2 % |
74.7 % |
74.4 % |
Hospital current health expenditure, as % of total current health expenditure |
32.6 % |
34.1 % |
35.2 % |
Out-of-pocket expenditure, % of current expenditure on health |
23.2 % |
19.6 % |
19.9 % |
All hospital beds per 100,000 inhabitants |
754.0 |
657.0 |
435.0 |
Acute care hospital beds per 100,000 inhabitants |
393.0 |
350.0 |
305.0 |
Acute care admissions / discharges per 100 inhabitants |
20.8 |
17.9 |
16.4 |
Average length of stay for acute care hospitals( bed-days) |
6.9 |
7.1 |
6.7 |
Practicing physicians per 100,000 inhabitants |
250.0 |
272.0 |
321.0 |
Practicing nurses per 100,000 inhabitants |
1071.0 |
1314.0 |
1466.0 |
28 HHE 2018 | hospitalhealthcare. com