Lost Course in Welfare Regions
We are now a little over a year into the operation of the new welfare regions. When the reform was originally planned, the expectation was that broader shoulders would be responsible for the services, thereby providing a new platform for service integration and better overall conditions for social and healthcare services in Finnish society. Basic services were to be strengthened, allowing for faster access to services. I believe this is still our goal, but right now it feels like both the course and the destination are lost.
The implementation of the reform, before it even got properly underway, has turned into a process of saving.
This is evident in the contradictory events — such as dismantling existing integration of social and healthcare services in hospitals under the guise of workforce needs, while simultaneously reducing health social work. Such quick-fix solutions to staff shortages ultimately become significantly more expensive.
The aim is to shift the focus to preventive and anticipatory work. The understanding that this cannot happen without adequate resourcing has somehow vanished into the murky depths of vague budget calculations. Providing services more effectively and efficiently, with a shift towards early support and basic services, does not happen with the snap of a finger. It requires investments, structures, a knowledge base, and, above all, time. Additional resources are needed for all preventive social welfare services if we want the cost savings anticipated from the social and healthcare reform to materialize.
Without social investments, clients will end up being the users of the heaviest and most expensive services.
Decisions regarding the range of services and their future are made at the regional level, but they are based on the funding situation of the welfare regions, for which the government is responsible. The government should now change its course to ensure that services do not run aground.
This blog has been translated from Finnish to English using artificial intelligence.
