Report pinpoints health centre reform needs
A new report on the performance of health centres in Finland suggests a more hands-on approach to the education and training of physicians and nurses.
The report finds that the main problems health centres face are to do with issues of training and expertise, management, inflexible procedures and personnel structures and the size of health centres.
Prepared by senior lawyer Eila Uotila, the report suggests changes to the methods of training, management and personnel structuring. It also proposes the coordinating research and development needs through the creation of hospital district centres of research and expertise to function at municipal level.
The report finds that medical training gives too little time to the management skills needed in running health centres, and that such training should be more firmly rooted in clinical experience and health centre work. It finds that the small health centres face the worst problems in management, as too few staff means inflexibility in organising work.
The effort to upgrade the performance of health centres is part of the national health project for safeguarding the future of the health service.