Focus
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23.12.2009
Long-range social protection reform by Finland’s centenary
The mandate of the committee, known as the SATA committee, created
in 2007 for reforming Finland's social protection arrangements
sought to refashion the system so that accepting work is always
worthwhile, poverty declines and a basic income is guaranteed in
all life situations. The social protection system had also to be
made simpler, and its costs not exceeding what the public economy
could withstand.
"Parts of the mandate were partially in contradiction with one another, and the committee had to strike a balance between them", says Lauri Pelkonen the General Secretary of the SATA committee. -
23.11.2009
Towards a family leave system for the 2010s
The possibility for the parents of small children to take parental
leave is an important part of Finnish family and population policy.
From the beginning of 2010 paternal leave will be extended from
four to six weeks. Consideration is now being given to the
decisions on parental leave of the next government. In September,
the MSAH established a working group on parental leave to deal with
preparatory work on this. "Prolonging parental leave has come up
possibly by earmarking leave for fathers," says the Ombudsman for
Children
Maria Kaisa Aula", who chairs the working group.
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09.11.2009
Service innovation project to create new information channel
The mass of information and data on Finnish health and social
policy is to be put to smart use, under a new service innovation
project. The aim is to make data and information more easily
accessed and used. The project will amass information online to
help inform the public debate on social and health policy and
practice. This is to be done using online facilities. These involve
a ‘Service Scale' to make information available, and a virtual
community for creating, assessing and using operational models.
"Information is the driving force of public discussion and can
increase the demand for new operational models," says the director
of the programme
Juha Teperi.
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12.10.2009
Disability policy programme involves all administrative sectors
The government disability policy programme, Vampo, is a strategy
for the coming period designed to implement policy decisions
concerning people with disabilities in Finland. The programme
involves a wide range of measures to promote the equality and
non-discrimination of people with disabilities.
"The MSAH is responsible for preparing the programme, but this work also involves all sectors that have an influence on disability issues", says MSAH ministerial adviser Aini Kimpimäki, who is one of the secretaries of the steering group responsible for the policy programme.
"The input of administrative sectors in preparing Vampo is as important as the policy programme's outcome." -
14.09.2009
New MSAH analysis model eases social policy planning
Social expenditure forecasts are one of the features of long-term
planning by the MSAH. They help estimate how expenditure will
develop and what aspects of the social protection system need to be
changed. Trends concerning the use of services, the numbers of
benefit recipients and demographic change are also among the issues
examined. Senior officer
Antti Alila presents in his article the new SOME
analysis model developed by the ministry for calculating future
social expenditure.
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31.08.2009
Gender-sensitive budgeting improves the welfare of all
Under the government's budget for next year all ministries will
assess the gender impact - or lack of it - of the budget for their
administrative sector. "A gender sensitive budget improves the
welfare of everyone, not only women", says Senior Officer
Hanna Onwen-Huma of the MSAH's Equality Unit.
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31.07.2009
Municipalities to decide on service voucher options
"Adjustments to the voucher system used in municipalities for
social and health services were introduced from the beginning of
August", explains MSAH Senior Officer
Virpi Vuorinen. "The new legislation took effect
allowing municipalities the option of offering clients and patients
service vouchers for procuring municipally-approved social and
health services."
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20.07.2009
Ethics advisory to encompass social and health sectors in unison
Established in 1998, Finland's National Advisory Board on Health
Care Ethics has until recently only dealt with ethical matters
concerning health care and the status of patients. This has now
changed, and the advisory, known by its Finnish acronym ETENE, is
being expanded to cover social care.
"Many of the ethical questions concerning the social and health sectors are similar in nature. It's appropriate that they are dealt with by a common advisory," explains ETENE's General Secretary, Aira Pihlainen. "The difference is that in social care the perspective is generally broader than in health care."
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06.07.2009
Social Welfare Act being revamped
The Finnish Social Welfare Act, one of the key pillars of the
country's social policy, is being reformed to take account of
altered circumstances.
Reijo Väärälä, Deputy Director General of the MSAH
Department for Social and Health Services, says that the bases of
the Social Welfare Act, the scope of their application and the
purpose of the law have endured fairly well. "But the changes that
have taken place in the operational environment require that the
law be reassessed."
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29.05.2009
Finnish municipalities to be obliged to upgrade child and youth preventive health care
For the most part Finland's decentralized system of social and
health care is run by municipalities according to statutory
regulations but also non-binding guidelines.
"Such guidelines", says MSAH Senior Officer Marjaana Pelkonen, "are used when it comes to preventive health services for children and young people provided at maternity and child health clinics, and the school and student health care system."
These guidelines are to be strengthened according to a statute issued by the government at the end of May concerning maternity and child health clinics, school and student health care and preventive oral health care. The new measure will introduce statutory health examinations in maternity and child health clinics and in school and student health care.
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20.05.2009
Financial recession increases need for social assistance
As in other countries, the effect of the global financial crisis in
Finland carries the threat of increased social exclusion, in
addition of more joblessness.
Kari Ilmonen, who heads the MSAH unit on promoting social inclusion, says that there needs to be sufficient attention given in municipalities to how to assist people on minimum income support.
"The danger is that the financial crisis will see some people cast out of society and will result in a further polarization of society", says Ilmonen.
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27.04.2009
New Medical Agency aims for greater efficiency, openness and collaboration
The arrangement of agencies dealing with the supply and control of
medicines in Finland is being upgraded to meet changing demands.
The result will be a new medicines agency.
"The importance and extent of drug therapy in healthcare is constantly growing", says MSAH Director General Päivi Sillanaukee. The new medicines agency will provide greater centralization in the job of authorization and supervision in the pharmaceuticals field.
