Treatment time guarantee
The Health Care Act(Link leads to external service) outlines the timeframe within which you must get access to non-urgent care. This is called the treatment time guarantee. You can read more about the treatment time guarantee on the website of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (in Finnish)(Link leads to external service).
You should be able to reach primary health care services, such as health stations and dental care, on weekdays during office hours on the same day of your initial contact. A health care professional should also assess your treatment need on the same day you have made contact.
In Helsinki, you can contact primary health care services through digital channels.
- The Sotebotti Hester chatbot is available 24/7 to answer questions about Helsinki’s health and social services. If needed, it can connect you with a health station professional via chat on weekdays from 7.45–14.00.
Sotebotti Hester on the website of health and social services - If you have new or worsening symptoms, the Omaolo (Link leads to external service)symptom assessment tool is available for self-assessment. It provides guidance, instructions, and, if necessary, connects you with a health care professional.
- Additionally, many services provide a callback option. We respond to callback requests on weekdays on the same day you contact us.
- For non-urgent matters, you can use the Maisa (Link leads to external service)service. We will respond to you within three working days.
The treatment time guarantee stipulates that care at a health station should be accessible within 14 days for cases involving illness, injury, worsening of a chronic condition, new symptoms, or decreased functional capacity. This maximum waiting time does not apply to tasks such as obtaining certificates or medical statements, health examinations, or follow-up visits. In other cases, you should receive care within a reasonable timeframe, but no later than three months, or as outlined in a treatment or rehabilitation plan.
Dental care should be accessible within four months. We primarily offer service vouchers to adult clients.
If tests indicate that you require hospital care, specialised health care services must assess your situation within three weeks of your case being referred to the hospital, and treatment must be provided to you within six months.
If you require urgent treatment, you can go to an emergency service point for immediate first aid and treatment.
Waiting times at the City of Helsinki’s services
According to section 55 of the Health Care Act, key figures on access to treatment must be based on reports published by Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). At the moment, however, there are still shortcomings in the quality of the reports.
Our health stations offer a callback service. In March 2024, the average time it took for us to call our clients back was 8 hours and 53 minutes. Due to different reporting methods, we have not been able to include callbacks from Kalasatama, Ruoholahti and Kannelmäki in the calculation of this average.
We usually assess the need for treatment immediately either by phone or in person at the location, which is why the waiting time for an assessment is less than three days. More than half of our clients who need a doctor's assessment will be assessed at the doctor's office on the same day.
THL reports on treatment access times
Access to treatment at a health station within the maximum 14-day waiting period: doctors (in Finnish, opens in a new window)(Link leads to external service)
Access to treatment at a health station within the maximum 14-day waiting period: nurses/public health nurses (in Finnish, opens in a new window)(Link leads to external service)
Follow-up treatment by a health station doctor within 7 days (in Finnish, opens in a new window)(Link leads to external service)
Access to treatment at a health station within the maximum 3-month waiting period: doctors (in Finnish, opens in a new window)(Link leads to external service)
Access to treatment at a health station within the maximum 3-month waiting period: nurses/public health nurses (in Finnish, opens in a new window)(Link leads to external service)
In oral healthcare, we assess the need for treatment primarily by phone on the same day. Urgent care appointments can be scheduled for the same day.
Currently, there are 4,790 patients in the treatment guarantee queue (as of 2 April 2024). We are currently inviting patients for treatment who contacted us on 18 December 2023, and for whom we were unable to offer an appointment at that time at our own service location or through purchased services, or who opted not to receive a service voucher. For adults, we primarily offer the option of a service voucher to be used at private clinics.
The treatment needs assessment is always carried out by an oral healthcare professional on a case-by-case basis, and if feasible, we can provide a service voucher as an alternative to receiving care at our own service locations. Depending on the service provider, the waiting time for treatment ranges from 1 to 30 days (more information can be found on the Palse.fi website(Link leads to external service)). The city organises oral healthcare services not only at our own service locations but also through purchased services and service vouchers.
THL reports on treatment access times
Access to treatment in oral health care within the maximum time limit (in Finnish, opens in a new window)(Link leads to external service)
Follow-up dental care within 4 weeks of the first visit (in Finnish, opens in a new window)(Link leads to external service)
We measure the waiting times for access to social services for the elderly in days and publish the data triannually: on 30 April, 31 August, and 31 December.
Waiting times for access to social services for the elderly on 30 April 2023
Individuals aged over 75 can access a service needs assessment within a legally mandated timeframe of under seven days. The average waiting period is four days.
The waiting period for long-term 24-hour care averages around 16 days, with seven persons waiting for more than three months.
Following a positive decision, home care services can be accessed in less than seven days.
| Service needs assessment for those over 75 years of age | Provided within less than 7 days. Median: 4 days. |
|---|---|
| Long-term 24-hour care | Median: 16 days. The number of people having waited more than three months: 7. |
| Home care | Service will begin following the decision. Provided within less than 7 days. |
Waiting times for access to social services for the elderly on 31 August 2023
Individuals aged over 75 can access a service needs assessment within a legally mandated timeframe of under seven days. The average waiting period is six days.
The waiting period for long-term 24-hour care averages around 30 days, with six persons waiting for more than three months.
Following a positive decision, home care services can be accessed in less than seven days.
| Service needs assessment for those over 75 years of age | Provided within less than 7 days. Median: 6 days. |
|---|---|
| Long-term 24-hour care | Median: 30 days. The number of people having waited more than three months: 6. |
| Home care | Service will begin following the decision. Provided within less than 7 days. |
Waiting times for access to social services for the elderly on 31 December 2023
Individuals aged over 75 can access a service needs assessment within a legally mandated timeframe of under seven days. The average waiting period is three days.
The waiting period for long-term 24-hour care averages around 23 days, with fourteen persons waiting for more than three months.
Following a positive decision, home care services can be accessed in less than seven days.
| Service needs assessment for those over 75 years of age | Provided within less than 7 days. Median: 6 days. |
|---|---|
| Long-term 24-hour care | Median: 23 days. The number of people having waited more than 3 months: 9. |
| Home care | Service will begin following the decision. Provided within less than 7 days. |
Client satisfaction at health stations and dental clinics
We collect client feedback through touch-screen feedback devices at our health stations and dental clinics. Measuring client experience provides us with information on the functionality of our services, and we use the results to develop our operations.
We monitor client experience with the NPS indicator, for example. NPS (Net Promoter Score) describes the likelihood that clients would recommend our services to others. When the result is positive, the service has more promoters than detractors.
The updated graph shows the monthly NPS results at health centres, outpatient clinics for internal diseases and dental clinics. The results can be viewed in their entirety or unit-specifically. The graph shows only the results that have accumulated more than 20 responses per month.
In Helsinki, diverse social and health care services are often gathered under one roof. When examining the NPS results, it should be taken into account that the feedback devices are located in the lobby of the units. The results may therefore also describe more extensively the activity on the same floor or in the entire building.
NPS is measured by asking the client: “How likely are you to recommend the service to others?” The answer to the question is on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 = highly unlikely and 10 = highly likely.
Based on the responses, the clients are divided into three groups:
- Promoters: clients who answer 9 or 10
- Passives: clients who answer 7 or 8
- Detractors: clients who answer 0–6
NPS is calculated by subtracting the proportion of detractors (%) from the proportion of promoters (%).
The NPS value can be anything from −100 to +100.
Customer Experience in Social and Health Services (NPS)