In addition, the Hartola Municipal Board calls for improvements in customer guidance and communication in the welfare area.
The small municipality of Hartola is concerned about the centralisation of social and health services in the regional capital Lahti.
The Municipal Board has sent a statement to the management of the Päijät-Häme Welfare Region and the management of Harju Health, which provides health care services in the region.
– At the turn of the year, the service contract with the Health Centre ended and the welfare region signed a new contract with Harju Health. Since then, we have had to travel to Lahti for screenings,” says Seppälä.
Of all the ten municipalities of Päijät-Häme, Hartola is located the farthest from the county center. The round trip from Hartola to the central hospital in Lahti is about 170 kilometers.
Unlike in medical care services, those invited to mammography are not authorized to use a taxi paid for by Kela. Hartola’s excitement is also increased by the fact that in the neighboring municipalities of Sysmä and Heinola, the examinations are successful in the own municipality’s social welfare center.
Information drowns in the flood
Hartola also provides support for customer guidance and communication in the welfare area.
– The municipality has received information about examples where, even in acute cases, the patient has been directed to do business in the wrong place, Seppälä says.
According to the opinion, the flood of information on welfare area websites also buries municipality-specific information invisible, behind several clicks.
– There should be clear municipality-specific views on the website of the welfare area, where you can find all the essential information for the services of the municipality’s area, Seppälä suggests.