Hospital waiting lists cut by a third since last summer
It has now been about a year since legislation took effect on maximum times for the provision of healthcare. The move saw amendments to the laws on public health and hospital care, and has generally gone by the term the healthcare guarantee.
One aim of the deadlines imposed by the law, the second phase of which, involving access to hospital care, took effect last autumn, has been to cut waiting lists by improving services.
Monitoring of the effects of the legislation by the MSAH shows that queues of over six months for hospital treatment had been cut by about a third since last summer. Then, the figure was 34,000 people. By the end of the year it had been cut to 20,000. Hospital districts reckon that the figure will continue to drop, reaching about 5,000 people by the coming summer.
Further information: Mr Jouko Isolauri, Minsterial Councellor, Health/Medical Affairs tel. +358 9 160 74194 ja 050 5160624