Minister Rehula meets Sweden's Health Minister
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Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Juha Rehula will meet Sweden's Health Minister Gabriel Wikström and Minister for Public Administration Ardalan Shekarabi in Stockholm on Wednesday, 20 January.
One of the topics Minister Rehula will be discussing with his colleagues is the Finnish reform of healthcare, social welfare and regional government and how customer's freedom of choice is organised in Sweden.
In Sweden, healthcare and social welfare services were reorganised in 2010. Now Sweden's 21 county councils are responsible for healthcare and social welfare services. There are about 60,000 inhabitants in the smallest county council region and about 2 million in the largest. The Swedish municipalities, which number around 290, are responsible for social services. Currently there is discussion in Sweden whether the number of county councils should be reduced.
In the Swedish financing model patients choose where they want to be treated and the county councils pay the service provider for the services. In Finland, a rapporteur group will be preparing arrangements in the course of the spring for guaranteeing freedom of choice for customers. This forms part of the Finnish reform package.
The Ministers will also discuss Finland's 2016 Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The Nordic Council of Ministers is a body for intergovernmental cooperation, and the ministers of the Nordic Governments participate in its work. The themes for the Finnish Presidency include water expertise, Nordic nature, sustainable development, international climate commitments, Nordic welfare societies, digitalisation, and the dismantling of cross-border barriers between the Nordic countries.
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Anni Kaukoranta, Senior Officer, tel.+358 2951 63558