Preparedness centres for healthcare and social welfare

As part of the health and social services reform, five centres for preparedness in healthcare and social welfare will be established in Finland to strengthen national preparedness and improve society’s readiness to respond to various incidents and emergencies. The preparedness centres will be established in connection with the university hospitals, and they will support all wellbeing services counties in coordinating preparedness and readiness in the healthcare and social welfare sector and creating a situation picture for collaborative areas. 

The key task of the preparedness centres is to form, maintain and share a situation picture of the healthcare and social welfare service system, covering the entire primary healthcare, specialised healthcare, prehospital emergency medical care and social welfare. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, in cooperation with the preparedness centres, will form a national situation picture of healthcare and social welfare. 

The centres for preparedness in healthcare and social welfare will work as a national network and in close cooperation with other authorities. The operation of the centres is based on nationally uniform principles and models. These models and networking make it possible for the centres to support and temporarily replace each other if the situation so requires.