Access to treatment in specialist medical care
The Health Care Act specifies the time limits within which patients in specialized medical care must gain access to non-urgent care (statutory care guarantee). However, in urgent cases treatment must be provided immediately. Non-urgent specialized medical care requires a referral from a physician or dentist. On this page, you will find information on care needs assessment and average waiting times.
In Finland, public healthcare is separated into primary healthcare and specialized healthcare. HUS provides specialized healthcare. The City of Helsinki and Uusimaa wellbeing services coun-ties are responsible for providing primary healthcare in Uusimaa.
Access to non-urgent public specialized healthcare requires an assessment by a physician or a dentist and a referral. A referral is a document created by a healthcare professional. A referral to specialized healthcare can be made at a health center, an occupational health care center, or a private doctor's practice, if it is necessary for the treatment of the illness.
Under the Health Care Act, the wellbeing services county is responsible for ensuring that both urgent and non-urgent assessments of the need for treatment and actual treatment are provided on consistent medical or dental grounds.
Time limits defined in the Health Care Act
Once the referral arrives at HUS, we must process it within three weeks. If your referral is accepted, we will make an appointment for you or place you on a waiting list for an assessment of your need for treatment or for treatment. We may also return the referral to your referring physician with care instructions.
The healthcare unit that made the referral is responsible for the treatment of your illness and for any necessary communication related to the referral until the referral has been accepted.
We need to complete the assessment of the need for treatment within three months of your referral arriving. As part of the assessment of the need for treatment, we may perform imaging or laboratory examinations before an appointment with or contact by a physician. You will be notified of these by letter and/or via Maisa.
In mental health services for children and adolescents, we must conduct an assessment of the need for treatment within six weeks of receiving the referral.
If we determine in the care needs assessment that you need care or advice, we must provide that service within no more than six months of the need for care being established. We consider the urgency of the care required and will provide the care more quickly if needed.
Mental health services for children and adolescents under 23 years of age must be arranged within three months of determining the need for care. We consider the urgency of the care required and will provide the care more quickly if needed.
The Health Care Act (sections 24 and 29) defines medical care and medical rehabilitation, which are subject to the time limits for access to treatment.
The following are excluded from the time limits for access to treatment (the statutory care guarantee):
- Rehabilitation, if by law it is the duty of the Social Insurance Institution (Kela) to provide medical rehabilitation.
- Visits performed for the sole purpose of obtaining a certificate or statement in healthcare.
- Services that promote health and wellbeing, such as advisory services on health.
Current situation in HUS for access to treatment
Access times to care at our hospitals vary by specialty. The figure below shows the median waiting time (in days) for the various specialties. The median waiting times are obtained when all waiting times are ranked and the middle value is taken.
Number of patients awaiting treatment by specialty
31.8.2026
| Medical specialty | Median |
| Internal medicine | 38 |
| Surgery | 81 |
| Neurosurgery | 67 |
| Gynecology and obstetrics | 70 |
| Pediatrics | 46 |
| Ophthalmology | 51 |
| Otorhinolaryngology | 70 |
| Phoniatrics | 29 |
| Oral and maxillofacial diseases | 88 |
| Dermatology and allergology | 21 |
| Oncology | 10 |
| Psychiatry | 25,5 |
| Neurology | 29,5 |
| Pulmonology | 28 |
| Medical genetics | 57,5 |
| Physical medicine and rehabilitation | 21 |
Reporting on access to treatment to THL (in Finnish)
hoitoa-odottavat-potilaat-erikoisaloittain-2026-huhtikuu(pdf 600.39 KB) (opens in new window, links to another website)Updated: 24.09.2026