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120 health centres across Finland were forced to close this summer due to difficulties finding replacement staff over the holidays.
According to a survey by Yle, staff shortages have led to the temporary closure of 120 health centres across Finland, affecting almost every health service county. The most common reason for the closures was a lack of staff.
The first summer closure of health centres due to staff shortages in Finland occurred three years ago. At that time, six health centres in North Karelia temporarily closed because they could not find staff for the holiday season. According to the Finnish Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy), no other health centres closed due to staff shortages that year.
Yle’s survey shows that this phenomenon has now increased 20 times.
Many welfare districts cited staff annual leave as a key reason for summer closures. However, not all districts detailed why replacement staff were not hired.
The new normal
Staff shortages have worsened significantly in recent years, particularly in the Northern Savo region, where 16 health centres closed this summer due to lack of staff.
“Especially in smaller places, it’s just not possible to find replacements. That’s why we didn’t even open up all the replacement positions this summer,” he said Ritva VetriHead of the Northern Savo Welfare District Services Department.
Susanna IvonenThe nurse at the North Savocawe Health Centre called the situation unfortunate. She said people had become accustomed to the shortage of substitutes because there were no other options.
“There was a shortage of doctors before, and now it’s hard to find nurses too. This has become the new normal,” said Ivonen.
Thousands of jobs
The shortage of healthcare workers is a major problem. Yoho Ruscoahochief economist at KT, the Local Government and County Employers Organization, a lobbying group for local and municipal authorities.
He noted that there are job opportunities for thousands of nurses and doctors across Finland.
KT suggested addressing this by increasing the number of training positions in the sector and promoting work-based migration.
“Strong measures are needed. Also, the legal obligations of healthcare providers should be reviewed to ensure efficient use of the workforce of trained professionals,” Ruscoho said.
Celia PavolaThe president of the Union of Professional Nurses of Finland (SuPer) blames the nursing shortage on low wages and heavy workloads in the field.
“Improving job descriptions and job management are the primary ways to address the funding shortfall. Hopefully, the complaints about Foley County being underfunded will stop, too, because the issue is really about how the money is being spent,” Pavola said.
Yle contacted all health service counties in mainland Finland and the City of Helsinki to ask about the number of health centres that had closed this summer and the reasons for their closure. Most responses were obtained via email from regional health centre managers, while data for North Karelia were collected by phone.
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