Digital programme helps with the development of social and healthcare services

How to offer high-quality treatment to patients at a time when the population is ageing, care professionals are retiring and the growth of costs is being curbed? In the Wellbeing Services County of Kainuu, digitalisation was seen as a way to address these questions that concern Finland in its entirety.

“We wanted to have a clear direction and framework for our digital development in order to get the most out of the new technologies and our entire organisation. The aim was to avoid a situation where fragmented development would be carried out in our different sectors without an overall picture”, says Mari Niskanen, Chief Information Officer of the Wellbeing Services County of Kainuu.

The wellness services county wanted to create a digital programme linked to the strategy, which would pave the way for short- and long-term development work. On the one hand, the aim was to ensure the quality of services and, on the other hand, to promote the opportunities for health and social care professionals to utilise modern methods, such as artificial intelligence, in their work.

The completed digital programme provides direction and a common language for the digital development of the wellbeing services county. It enables the wellbeing services county to move from fragmented development to a more cost-effective shared model, which also increases the prerequisites for knowledge-based management.

“For us, it was important to create our own idea of the entity. However, needs and solutions always differ with regard to local factors, so you must understand the circumstances. This digital programme is exactly what we needed right now,” Niina Komulainen says.

The digital programme is a management tool that supports the broader strategy work of the Wellbeing Services County of Kainuu. After the completion of the strategy work, the plan is to start the implementation of the digital programme in accordance with the roadmap presented in it.

“When the digital programme is put into practice, the benefits will be visible to customers in Kainuu as better services. Access to treatment can be easier and faster when different channels are used. Employees, in turn, will have access to a variety of tools that will make their work easier”, Mari Niskanen says.