Use of electronic services has increased: One in five used electronic services in social welfare or health care last year
According to a survey carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, 22% of people used e-services with a social welfare or health care professional last year. The services may have been implemented, for example, through a video connection or chat.
For the third time now, the population’s use of electronic services was studied as part of the Monitoring and evaluation project of the information system services in social welfare and health care.
The use of e-services has increased and digitalisation has progressed in social welfare and health care. For example, in 2014, only 16 per cent of the population had used the MyKanta service, whereas in 2020, 64 per cent of the population had already used MyKanta in the previous year.
"The COVID-19 epidemic seems to have brought a transformation in both the provision and use of e-services, and digital environments have now become an essential part of modern social welfare and health care," says Maiju Kyytsönen, researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
In particular, the reception of laboratory tests or other research results, examination of personal patient or client data and booking of appointments were utilised in the electronic services of social welfare and health care. Around half of the population had used these electronic services during the year.
45% of the population felt that electronic services facilitated cooperation with professionals.
Lack of Internet connection or digital skills can result in exclusion from services
According to the survey, 88% of people used the Internet independently for searching for information and 83% for e-services. However, there were widespread concerns about the obstacles of e-services or e-services in general.
One fifth, or 19%, felt that they needed guidance in the use of online social welfare and health care services, and 15% felt that electronic services were not accessible to them.
"Even though digitalisation has progressed and the use of electronic services has become more common in social welfare and health care, some of the population is digitally excluded, without an internet connection and without the necessary skills to operate in digital environments. For example, of those over 74 years of age, just over half used the Internet and had a tool for electronic identification on the Internet, such as banking IDs, "says Maiju Kyytsönen.
When increasing e-services, diverse user groups must be taken into account
Almost half felt that social welfare and health care e-services were mainly useful. Of the respondents, 17% felt that the services they needed were not available electronically, which indicates that there would have been more demand for electronic services.
"Based on the results, there are indications that the current electronic service offer is too limited. Two extremes should be taken into account when developing different electronic services: People who wish for more electronic services and people who currently do not use electronic services at all ", Kyytsönen says.
The introduction of digital services will change the service processes of social welfare and health care. 40% of the population were directed to use electronic services (e.g. MyKanta) in the course of a traditional visit or call to social welfare or health care. Members of a younger age group were directed to electronic services more often than those of an older age group.
Digitalisation of social welfare and health care and the use of electronic services were studied as part of the FinSote population survey. Data was collected from September to February. Questions about the topic were presented in both the main questionnaire and a separate digital module had, which gathered 28 199 and 6 034 respondents.
"Later this year, we will still receive the results of the surveys sent to social welfare and health care organisations. Organisation-level research provides a more detailed picture of what kind of service offer customers have been dealing with in different areas, "explains Research Manager Tuulikki Vehko.
Contact information
Maiju Kyytsönen
Researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Tel. +358 29 524 7442
[email protected]
Tuulikki Vehko
Research Manager
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Tel. +358 29 524 7321
[email protected]
Anna-Mari Aalto
Chief Specialist
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Tel. +358 29 524 7252
[email protected]
