Emergency clinics at Haartman and Malmi Hospitals transferred to HUS
The emergency clinic functions at Haartman and Malmi Hospitals previously handled by the City of Helsinki were transferred to HUS on January 7. In addition to the emergency clinics and monitoring wards, six internal medicine wards at those hospitals were also transferred to HUS.
This transfer was performed because of the Decree on Emergency Care that entered into force in 2017, requiring emergency services to be provided jointly for basic health care and specialist medical care on a 24/7 basis.
With the transfer of emergency clinic functions, 500 employees of the City of Helsinki became HUS employees. Despite the IT system change required and the substantial personnel transfer, the changeover went very well. Treating of patients in emergency care became quicker, inpatient treatment periods became shorter, and further treatment places could be organized as before. We supported the expanded emergency clinic operations with expanded remote services. For instance, the number of calls to the Medical Helpline more than tripled. Specifically, the Medical Helpline received 283,866 calls in 2019 (2018: 88,764).
Other functional changes
The following functions were also transferred to HUS in 2019:
– City of Helsinki equipment maintenance
– Oral and dental care under anesthesia
– Child and adolescent psychiatry at the Helsinki Deaconess Institute
– X-ray services at Nurmijärvi to HUS Imaging
– Functions of the Medical Helpline project outsourced to member municipalities
– New municipal customers for the pharmaceutical supply service of HUS Pharmacy
– Transfers of outsourced functions of City of Helsinki hospital cleaning services
– Extending hospital logistics to member municipality customers
The functions listed above increased operating costs in 2019 by approximately EUR 79 million. Also, functions transferred during 2018 increased annual operational costs for 2019 by EUR 2.8 million as of 2018.
We relocated the ward secretaries of the departments of the Helsinki University Hospital Area centrally at HUS Asvia. We centralized gynecological surgical procedures from Porvoo and Raseborg Hospitals to the Women’s Hospital.
A new Outpatient Clinic for Functional Disorders was opened in May.
At the beginning of the year, the HUS Child Psychiatric Acute Ward, Day Ward and Treatment Ward relocated from the Children’s Castle Hospital and Pasila to a temporary hospital building in the Kivelä hospital area. These wards admit children under the age of 13. Child psychiatry functions will remain at Kivelä until the new shared Laakso Hospital is completed.
The reorganization of the Helsinki University Hospital Area into its present division structure as of the beginning of 2015, known as the competence center reform, celebrated its fifth anniversary during the year under review. The Executive Board launched an international evaluation of the reform, to be completed at the beginning of 2020.