The following example explains how data recorded in social services can be utilised in the future from the planning of services and care for residents all the way to national steering of health and social services. Health care and social welfare services will work in increasingly close cooperation when more national-level data becomes available than before.
The utilisation of the data obtained from the social welfare services in knowledge-based management and the assessment, steering and monitoring tasks of the authorities is developed in the Valtava project carried out under the Toivo programme of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
A resident fractures her wrist. In connection with the treatment, it is discovered that she also needs social welfare services because of exhaustion. The physician or the nurse contacts social welfare services.
The resident’s service need is assessed together with the family and a social worker. It is found out that the client’s family urgently needs at least home services for families with children, which will assist them in childcare and household chores for two weeks. The social worker makes structured entries on the client in the client information system.
Tulevaisuudessa alueellisiin sosiaalihuollon järjestelmiin kirjatut asiakkuustiedot siirtyvät suoraan Kanta-palveluiden Sosiaalihuollon asiakastiedon arkistoon. Tiedot ovat hyödynnettävissä niin sote-ammattilaisten kuin viranomaistyön tarpeisiin ja ne ovat rakenteisen kirjaamisen ansiosta vertailukelpoisia keskenään.
The data recorded in social welfare services are available for assessment, steering, supervision, statistics and other use by the authorities as part of the national social welfare and health care database. The data are processed and utilised securely.
Read more about the national social welfare and health care database here.
As from 2023, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) will gather data from the Client Data Archive for Social Welfare Services in the Kanta services stage by stage to a new social welfare monitoring register. The register will bring together the key client and service data of social welfare in Finland for the first time.
Sote-henkilöstö voi tulevaisuudessa hyödyntää sosiaalihuollossa syntynyttä tietoa asiakkaan tai potilaan palvelujen ja hoidon suunnittelussa. Asiakkaan luvalla esimerkiksi palvelutarpeen arvioinnin yhteydessä sosiaalihuollon ammattilaiset voivat tarkastella myös hänen terveydenhuollon hoitosuunnitelmaansa. Näin he voivat yhteensovittaa palveluita terveydenhuollon ja sosiaalihuollon välillä.
Järjestämislain 29. § mukaan hyvinvointialue on velvoitettu seuraamaan väestönsä hyvinvointia ja terveyttä sekä johtamaan toimintaansa tiedolla vähimmäistietosisällön mukaisesti. Hyvinvointialue saa kertakirjatusta palvelu- ja hoitotiedosta luotettavaa, ajantasaista ja vertailukelpoista tietoa tiedolla johtamiseen. Se voi esimerkiksi seurata lapsiperheiden palveluiden asiakkaita ja heidän palvelutarpeitaan.
Hyvinvointialueet saavat sote-tietoa alueellisten järjestelmiensä lisäksi myös kansallisesta sote-tietopohjasta. Tietoa voidaan hyödyntää myös kuntien (hyte) sekä kaupunkien tehtävissä.
National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) and the regional state administrative authorities can use the information to focus monitoring on those providers and organisers social welfare services whose operations are considered to involve risks for client and patient safety the most. This also enables providing guidance and support for service providers and organisers and further shifting the emphasis on supporting self-monitoring. For example, the supervisory authorities may monitor whether the assessment for service need has been drawn up within the statutory time limit and how fast the client has received services after social welfare has been contacted.
THL is responsible for the assessment of the health and social services system by preparing annual specialist assessments of all wellbeing services counties in accordance with section 30 of the new Act on Organising Healthcare and Social Welfare Services. Among other things, these involve the assessment of the quality, functionality, impact and costs of the health and social services system to support national steering. The assessments are based on cost and impact indicators (KUVA indicators), qualitative evaluations compiled in cooperation with the wellbeing services counties, and reports prepared by Valvira and authorities in regional government.
THL also produces and uses social welfare and health care data in its statistics and register activities. For example, THL may monitor how often the clients of services for families with children also needed child welfare services later and how often the situation improved with the help of home services.
Järjestämislain 31. § mukaisesti sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö (STM) laatii vuosittaisen selvityksen, jossa arvioidaan sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon yhdenvertaista toteutumista ja rahoituksen tason riittävyyttä. Selvityksessä hyödynnetään THL:n laatimia valtakunnallisia asiantuntija-arvioita.
STM neuvottelee erikseen jokaisen hyvinvointialueen kanssa järjestämisvastuuseen kuuluvien sote-tehtävien toteuttamisesta. Neuvottelujen tarkoituksena on sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon valtakunnallisten tavoitteiden seuranta ja arviointi ja järjestämistehtävän strategisen tason ohjaus (järjestämislaki 24. §).
Tiedon avulla STM, hyvinvointialueiden strategisen tason ohjaajana, pystyy kohdentamaan hyvinvointialueille sosiaalihuollon resursseja tarveperusteisesti aiempaa paremmin.
In the future, the smoothness and effectiveness of health and social services can be assessed over the entire service and treatment chain, and data from different wellbeing services counties can be compared to form a national situational picture. At the local level, the planning of services and care for residents will be based on topical and optimal information. This information will also guide the assessment, guidance and monitoring by the authorities.
When social welfare and health care data are used in the management of the service system, residents receive effective and equal services that meet their needs whenever they need them.