IPPTAMeeting©2015 Current situation in Finland IPPTA Meeting Singapore 2015 Riitta Partia, Senior Specialist (Communication & Business) Finnish Association of Physiotherapists, Finland

IPPTAMeeting©2015

People Population: 5.4 million, 15.8 inhabitants per km² (40.5 per square mile) Languages: Official languages are Finnish (spoken by 91%) and Swedish (5.4%). Sámi about 1,700 people, members of the indigenous Sámi people of northern Lapland Climate: Great contrasts – cold winters and fairly warm summers (2013 extremes: coldest day-39.7 C/-39.5 F, warmest day 32.4 C/90.3 F IPPTAMeeting©2015

Health care system in Finland A strong public sector in health care system Primary health care, occupational and private health care and specialized medical care Private companies supplement the public sector IPPTAMeeting©2015

1. Physiotherapists in Finland Currently almost licenced pts, of whom under 63 years of age Every year new qualified pts (15 universities of applied sc.) In the Association: members in total ( ), of whom students owners of private clinics, private practitioners Unemployment (raising ?), shortage in some areas IPPTAMeeting©2015 New service structure At present about 200 different municipal organisations are responsible for organising social welfare and health care services and for providing them. currently employed by the municipalities.

IPPTAMeeting© Current situation in Finland Coming: Social welfare and health care reform (to create a novel service structure for Finland's public social welfare and health services). - The parliamentary elections was held in April. National Archive of Health Information (implementation going on) - electronic prescriptions - an archive of patient records - patients will be able to inspect their prescriptions and patient records online. Core competence project to meet the future challenges at international and national level. - PT Association together with the universities

A goal for all physiotherapists Best PT practice, where PT´s clinical experience, patient goals and views and evidence from research is combined ! Thank you! IPPTAMeeting©2015