Department for Clients and Services in Healthcare and Social Welfare

The Department for Clients and Services in Healthcare and Social Welfare prepares and develops issues pertaining to the position and rights of the customer and the patient, healthcare and social welfare employees as well as healthcare and social welfare services.

The National Advisory Board on Social Welfare and Health Care Ethics ETENE, the National Advisory Board on Romani Affairs RONK and the Advisory Board for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities VANE operate within this department.

Performance guidance and ownership steering

The Department for Clients and Services in Healthcare and Social Welfare is responsible for the performance guidance of the following institutions:

Responsibilities and personnel of the Department’s units

The Department for Clients and Services in Healthcare and Social Welfare is headed by Director Anna Cantell-Forsbom.

Service System Unit (PAL)

The Unit handles issues pertaining to:

  • health and social services in general and the applicable legislation
  • social assistance and social lending
  • adult social welfare work and structural social work
  • rehabilitative work activities and services facilitating employment
  • health and social services for homeless people
  • mental health and substance abuse services as well as the state’s psychiatric hospitals
  • on-call services in healthcare and social welfare
  • oral healthcare services
  • healthcare services of prisoners
  • rare diseases
  • fertilisation treatments, sterilisations and abortions
  • determinations of the cause of death and forensic medicine
  • cancer screenings

Director Eveliina Pöyhönen.

Clients and Personnel Unit (ASI)

The Unit handles issues pertaining to:

  • the position and rights of the customer and patient, including general harmonisation with regard to the customer’s and patient’s autonomy
  • patient and customer safety
  • fees collected from customers in healthcare and social welfare
  • healthcare and social welfare personnel
  • education, research and development activities as well as development structures in healthcare and social welfare
  • matters related to research and education compensations in healthcare and social welfare
  • integration and immigration
  • duties in accordance with Article 33 of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and harmonisation of disability policies
  • harmonisation of the national Roma policy
  • Performance guidance of the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health and the basic services, legal protection and permissions responsibilities of the regional state administrative agencies.

The Unit is headed by Jaska Siikavirta.