Research related to the Social Services and Health Care Division

All studies, theses and reports that collect or process information on clients, personnel or data of the health and social services of the City of Helsinki require a research permit, regardless of the method used to collect the material. A permit is also required for any research concerning our clients who are being treated or residing in outsourced service units.

Staff of the health and social services must also apply for a research permit if the research is not being carried out as part of their official duties but, for example, as part of their own studies.  Also, staff members need to apply for a research permit for a development project or a study carried out as part of their official duties, in cases where the research uses client or patient information or it results in an externally published report.

There are cases when a research permit is not needed. Some examples are provided below.

• A person employed by the Social Services and Health Care Division conducts research or compiles a report as part of regular development and management activities related to their official work duties.  The work does not use client or patient information and will not be published externally and be available outside the Division. 
• The research falls under the scope of research permits granted by the Finnish Social and Health Data Permit Authority Findata.
• The data collected is or would be publicly available. Examples of such data include information published on the intranet pages of the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division.  Researchers and thesis writers must nevertheless always ask for permission to use the data.

If in doubt as to whether a research permit is required, you can contact us for clarifications at sotepe.tutkimusluvat@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) 
 

A research permit may be denied on, for example, the following grounds:

• The application is incomplete, and no additional information has been received.
• The research setting is ethically questionable.
• The research is a market study or commercial research, and its objectives do not support the development of the operations of the Social Services and Health Care Division.
• The subject has recently been studied within the same target group.
• The Division does not have the necessary data or acquiring it would require an unreasonable amount of work.

The objectives, methodology, data collection and implementation of research conducted within the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division must be compatible with the activities of the Division.

Set the data collection in proportion to the level of your research.

Your research and data collection must be feasible without unreasonable efforts from our staff. When planning your collection of data and its scope, consider the level of your research and your research competence. As a rule, the more scientific or nationally/internationally significant your research is, the more extensively it can target the Social Services and Health Care Division (e.g. doctoral dissertations, postdoctoral theses, and studies by scientific and research institutions). The data collection of a bachelor’s thesis should be targeted to the service of a specific unit at the most.

Contact us and agree on the data collection

Contact the unit or office where you plan to conduct your research in advance to establish whether your study is feasible and who would be your contact person (usually the supervisor of your target unit) at the Social Services and Health Care Division. The contact person participates in the planning and implementation of the data collection (e.g., by providing the subjects with an information letter and other necessary material).

Scrutinise the instructions for processing personal data and ethical review

Almost all research on social services and health care involves processing personal data, even when the researcher has no intention to collect personal data. Carefully study the requirements laid down for research in the Data Protection Act (1050/2018)(Link leads to external service) and your organisation’s guidelines regarding data protection. A research permit application must be accompanied by a privacy statement whenever the research involves processing personal data, such as subjects’ signatures on consent forms and interview recordings. Open response fields on a questionnaire also enable the disclosure of personal data. The privacy statement must contain the following information:

• data controller
• name of the study
• grounds for processing personal data
• the party responsible for the study and their contact details
• purpose, duration and implementation of the study
• what personal data is collected and why
• how personal data is protected
• rights of the subjects
• disclosure of personal data to third parties
• storing and removal of personal data.

A data protection impact assessment must be carried out if the research involves processing special categories of personal data (health data, race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, genetic or biometric data, information on sexual orientation) and it is necessary to derogate from the rights of data subjects (the right to rectification of their data, right to erasure of their data, right to restrict processing of their data and right to object to the processing of their data). More information is available at: Impact assessment(Link leads to external service)

If the research requires an ethical review, it must be carried out before applying for the research permit and attached to the application. An ethical review is usually required when studying social services and health care clients or patients who are in a particularly vulnerable position, or in medical research.

If your research involves the collection and use of register and statistical data from the client and patient information systems in healthcare and social welfare, consider the Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data (552/2019)(Link leads to external service) Secondary use means that register data generated in health care and social welfare services are used for purposes other than the primary reason for which the data was originally saved. The Act covers all stages of data processing.

If the research requires register data from several different controllers, data stored in the Kanta Services or register data from private social welfare and health care organisers, the Finnish Social and Health Data Permit Authority, Findata is responsible for issuing the research permit. Use the Findata application assistant to check where you need to apply for your permit. Visit Findata application assistant(Link leads to external service).

If your research only requires data from registers of the Social Services and Health Care Division, a permit for applying data will be issued by the City of Helsinki. Data permits are requested using the research permit application form. 

Find out what data is available and the associated costs together with your contact person and get in touch with the statistical services of the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division before submitting your application.

The research plan must indicate how your data is to be collected in practice. Applying for a data permit is free of charge, but you may incur further costs, such as charges related to the processing of data.  You must aim to establish an accurate estimate of total costs before submitting your application.

As of 1 May 2022, client and patient information may only be disclosed to secure operating environments that meet the requirements set out in legislation. Audited secure operating environments are listed in Toini, Valvira’s public database of secondary-use environments. If you intend to carry out a register study, you must show in your research permit application that you have access to an operating environment listed in Valvira’s database. For further information on the database of secondary-use environments, go to Valvira’s website(Link leads to external service)

For more information about statistics and register materials, contact us as:

• sotepe.tilastoneuvonta@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program)
• Tel. +358 9 310 20835(Link starts a phone call)

Your research and data collection must be feasible without unreasonable efforts from our staff. When planning your data collection, consider the level of the research and your research competence. As a rule, the more significant the research is, scientifically or from a national or international perspective, the more extensively it can target the health and social services (e.g. doctoral dissertations, postdoctoral research, studies by scientific and research institutions).

Data collection for a thesis related to an undergraduate degree at a university of applied sciences should be directed at the services of a specific unit at most. As a rule, it is recommended that thesis work at the university of applied sciences level should not target clients and patients. If necessary, contact the guidance service for research permits: sotepe.tutkimusluvat@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program)

You may start collecting data only once the research permit has been granted. 

Read carefully the instructions on the application process, the required attachments, and how to fill in the application form.

 Instructions for applying for a research permit (PDF)

Research permits are applied for using an electronic form. Unfortunately, the form cannot be saved unfinished but must be completed in one sitting.

Go to the research permit application form (opens in a new page) (Link leads to external service)

The Register Office of the City of Helsinki will receive the submitted research permit applications. The application is then forwarded to the responsible officers within the health and social services for processing. The processing of a research permit application usually takes between two to six weeks. Incomplete information will delay the processing of the application.

You will receive your research permit decision by post, email, or message to the Suomi.fi service. The decision document will also be sent to your contact person and other persons involved. In the case of office-holder decisions, decision documents are also published on the Division’s website, without names and attachments.

If data collection is delayed or you wish to extend its duration beyond the date specified in the research permit you have been granted, you need to apply for an extension permit. You can apply for an extension using the same application form as for the initial permit.  

Submit the completed research or send a link to the completed study to sotepe.tutkimusluvat@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) 

Completed research is made available to staff on the intranet of the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division. Published studies and theses are also made available on the Division’s public webpages on research, development and innovation activities. 

Upon request, researchers who have been granted a research permit will come to present their work and results free of charge to the health and social services of the City of Helsinki.