HUS year 2023: Review by the Chair of the Executive Board: First year of the health and social services reform–challenges with waiting lists and finances
The national health and social services reform (‘sote reform’) entered into force at the beginning of 2023. It brought challenges particularly for finances and for access to care. Among the successes noted was the improvement in personnel and client experiences.
One year ago, I made it one of the most important goals for 2023 to establish positive cooperation with the wellbeing services counties and with the City of Helsinki. This cooperation has indeed improved significantly, with a lot invested in making it work. However, good cooperation requires continued upkeep.
Waiting lists remain one of our main challenges. Timely access to treatment is important. Indeed, the Executive Board insisted that HUS seek solutions for cutting down waiting lists. Waiting lists are a challenge nationwide, not just at HUS. We know very well why this is: the impact of the Covid pandemic still lingers, and there is a shortage of nursing staff.
Cost cuts to be found in collaboration with personnel
The other major challenge was with finances. It turns out that we did not know exactly how finances would work in this new kind of organization. This is the case throughout health and social services nationwide. In 2024, we will have to launch a productivity program to establish, for instance, how to make more operating rooms available and how to do more with the resources we now have. In this, I trust in our personnel, because they know best how their units could do things better and more efficiently. We must be able to adopt and implement good ideas.
We must also look at costs across the board to find potential major cost cuts. We have already found such cuts in IT and in medications. On the other hand, multiple small savings add up. I believe that we can turn our finances around by working with our personnel to find smarter ways of doing things.
Job satisfaction improved
Fortunately, there are also good news. HUS personnel surveys show that job satisfaction clearly improved during 2023. This is a good foundation for future efforts to further improve our operations and the wellbeing of our employees. We are moving in the right direction in improving our personnel experience.
Most of the feedback from patients is also positive. Our clients and how they feel about the care and service they are given are at the very core of what we do. Our client experience is thus also improving, except for the issue with waiting lists. People are happy to be cared for at HUS.
Risto Rautava
Chair of the Executive Board