In this article, I will tell you all you need to know about healthcare in Finland. First, I let you know that I’m (Ida Koivisto) from Finland.
I’ll cover the topics from the healthcare system in Finland to the quality of healthcare in Finland. In the last chapter, I’ll list healthcare jobs in Finland for you.
Without further ado, let’s start about healthcare in Finland.
Healthcare in Finland is divided between the private and public sectors. Public health care includes the services of municipal health centers and regional hospitals. In Finland, the state collects health insurance premiums from citizens to pay for public services. So public services are cheaper for citizens than private services.
In Finland, there are central hospitals, regional hospitals, and university level hospitals. University hospitals have specialized expertise in specialized medical care. In Finland are five university hospitals. There are in Helsinki, Oulu, Turku, Tampere, and Kuopio.
Here is a video from Katya and Heidi (a registered nurse), who share their thoughts about healthcare in Finland.
Table of Contents
Healthcare system in Finland
In Finland, health care is provided at different stages of life.
At the maternity clinic, the condition of the fetus is monitored by free visits to the clinic so health care begins before birth. The Children’s Clinic takes care of the health and well-being of children under school age. Also, it provides vaccinations.
After the maternity clinic and children’s clinic becomes school health care. School health care services belong to elementary school children. Municipal services are free under 18 years old. Children under 18 years also receive free dental care.
Next will be student health care. Students have the right to use student health care in the study community, which is partially paid, but cheaper than private doctors. Student health care includes high school students, vocational school students, and the University of Applied Sciences students. University students belong to the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). University students must pay an annual statutory annual health care fee from FSHS. Applied Sciences students will have also access to the FSHS from the beginning of the year 2021.
Then in Finland have occupational health services. In Finland, employers have a legal obligation to provide their employees with preventive health care free of charge, including periodic medical examinations. Also, most employers provide their employees with free basic or specialist health care.
General health care. Finnish citizens have the right at all stages of their life to use the affordable services of a municipal health center. In addition, citizens are entitled to have access to inexpensive public specialist medical services if they have a referral. For a private-sector doctor, you don’t need a referral.
Hospital districts. In Finland, each municipality must be part of a hospital district to provide specialized medical care for the citizens. There are 20 hospital districts and five special responsibility areas (erva areas) with a central university hospital.
These are all public health care, an exception of occupational healthcare. The Finnish state supports most of the public healthcare services. For the citizen not left so much to pay for the services. But private healthcare is expensive.
Quality of healthcare in Finland
The quality of service in Finnish health care is considered to be good.
Good quality health care means that the customer receives the service they need at the right time and in the right place. Finnish healthcare has the best price-quality ratio in the world, according to this medical publication. Publicly funded health care in Finland is one of the world leaders in quality and outcomes.
When people become less sick and die less, people have access to health services and they are satisfied with the service and the services have been provided in a cost-effective way. These things measure healthcare quality.
Students or researchers from the EU, EEA or Switzerland who are temporarily resident in Finland are entitled to medically necessary public health care if they hold a European Health Insurance Card.
The Emergency Phone Number in Finland is 112.
Healthcare jobs in Finland
If you are interested in health care jobs you can work in different professions. These can be:
- Different roles of nursing like a registered nurse or a neonatal nurse.
- Public health nurse like I am.
- Occupational therapist
- Doctor
- Bioanalyst
- Radiographer
- Physiotherapist
- Pharmacist
- Dentist
- Speech therapist
As you can see that the social and health careers offer many different career opportunities.
I hope that this article gave you an idea of healthcare in Finland.
Here are some articles of ours you might also find interesting:
- Nursing in Finland – Studying, Salary, Jobs, etc.
- How To Become A Registered Nurse?
- How To Become A Respiratory Therapist?
- How To Become A Neonatal Nurse?
- Can Nurse Practitioners Deliver Babies?
- Do Nurses Make Good Money?
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