Patients had to wait longer for treatment in primary health care last year, according to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, THL. The deterioration was especially clear among children and young people, for whom the statutory two-week care guarantee was not met. THL said 56 percent of children and young people reached a doctor within two weeks.

Access also worsened for adults. THL reported that 59 percent of adult doctor visits were completed within two weeks last year, down from 70 percent the year before. The extension of the care guarantee applied only to people aged 23 and older, so it does not explain why access worsened for children and young people.

THL said that almost all first visits to a doctor or nurse were completed within the three-month deadline last year. In practice, that means the longer guarantee also translated into longer real waiting times before a patient could see a doctor or a nurse. The figures suggest that pressure in primary care was concentrated especially at the first point of contact.

At the same time, the number of people waiting a long time for specialised care fell last year. The total number of long-waiting patients decreased by almost 8,000. The overall picture is therefore mixed: queues grew in primary care, but the worst pressure in specialised care eased at least somewhat.

Waiting times are one of the key indicators used to assess how well wellbeing services counties can respond to demand. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government has stressed fiscal consolidation, but THL’s figures show that financial pressure can also be felt in patients’ everyday access to care. The weaker access for children and young people raises questions about how evenly services are being delivered across age groups.