Centre Party to challenge threats to health and elderly care

Finland’s Centre Party will file a parliamentary interpellation on Friday over the threat to health and elderly care services and the unsustainable situation facing wellbeing services counties, Yle reports.

The party has called this week for a temporary halt to all assessment procedures for the counties. Its leader, Antti Kaikkonen, said on Wednesday that the regions need a pause because they are under severe strain and are being forced by the government to make rushed decisions to cut social and healthcare services.

Kaikkonen said the pressure could lead to care services for older people and patients being closed in South Ostrobothnia and elsewhere in Finland.

South Ostrobothnia, South Karelia and Kymenlaakso were placed under Ministry of Finance guidance through assessment procedures this summer. Last year, the procedures applied to Eastern Uusimaa, Central Finland and Lapland.

The current funding model has created imbalances between the counties. Because illness data carries significant weight in the formula, some counties have recorded many diagnoses in their systems, increasing their funding. Others have struggled to provide the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare with data needed for funding. When one county receives more money, less is available for the others.