North Ostrobothnia aims to enhance mental health services amid long waiting times in Finland

The North Ostrobothnia welfare region is working to enhance its primary mental health services with the aim of improving access to care across the entire area. Acknowledging the severe situation, officials noted that some individuals are enduring excessively long waiting times for treatment, making service reform crucial.

Mental health resources in the region are unevenly distributed, leading to discrepancies in access to care, with some clients waiting beyond the legal limits. Additionally, the waiting times for children’s and youth’s mental health services in North Ostrobothnia are notably longer than in other parts of Finland.

According to authorities, there have already been advancements in service offerings, particularly in coastal areas and Northeast Ostrobothnia, where both the variety of services and accessibility have improved. Enhanced outpatient mental health services have also been achieved by increasing resources for children’s and youth’s mental health care.

Planning for mental health services will be integrated into next year’s budget preparation, with a goal to strengthen and develop primary care mental health services in 2025. This initiative aims to ease access to care and shorten waiting lists. Leaders emphasized the importance of bolstering primary services to shift the focus from more intensive treatments to lighter options, which could also lead to a reduction in psychiatric inpatient care.

Plans also include establishing regional enhanced outpatient units to ensure urgent mental health care. Furthermore, there are aspirations to develop regional specialized outpatient care beyond the existing facilities and strengthen digital services to improve overall accessibility.