Access to treatment – Access to treatment in primary health care

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New data on access to treatment available monthly

Data on access to treatment is regularly updated in THL’s database reports. You can view these data in the database report and data cube service and select different views. Please note that regularly updated data have not yet been verified, and the data may be specified later.

See the most recent data

Situational overview: Access to non-urgent treatment in primary health care

Situational overview: Access to treatment in oral health care

The verified data are published once a year in a statistical report, which is also the basis of the data on this page.

Patients had difficulties contacting primary health care in 2024

In 2024, by law, the patient was entitled to be able to contact a health centre on weekdays during office hours, on the same day. However, only five out of 24 service providers estimated that they had been able to respond to all contacts made to primary health care during the same weekday in accordance with the law.

The situation was better in oral health care. In oral health care, 10 out of 24 service providers were able to respond to all contacts during the same weekday.

These data are based on a survey conducted in spring 2025 on access to treatment in primary health care among public service providers.

Nurses managed the majority of non-urgent appointments in outpatient care

In outpatient care, licensed nurses often interacted with patients and consulted a physician if necessary. Of the appointments in primary health care that had to be carried out within a two-week period under the law, most (75%) were with licensed nurses, such as registered nurses and public health nurses. Nearly all of these appointments (95%) took place within the 14-day maximum.

The majority (76%) of the first appointments managed by nurses were carried out remotely. Nearly all of the remote appointments (98%) took place within a week.

More than 40 per cent of doctors’ appointments were remote

Of the doctor’s appointments related to access to treatment in outpatient care that had to be provided within two weeks under the law, 41 per cent were carried out remotely. Of the appointments, 71% were carried out within the two-week maximum in 2024 (65 % in 2023).

However, there were regional differences in how quickly patients could access treatment. Access to a doctor was at the best level in the North Karelia wellbeing services county, where 91% of the appointments were realised in 14 days.

Dentists manage clients’ first appointments in oral health care

In oral health care, dentists manage the majority of clients’ initial treatment appointments (73 %). In 2024, 92 % of dentist appointments were realised within four months.

Maximum times for access to treatment in primary health care

In 2024, the Health Care Act laid down several maximum time limits within which the patient had to access treatment or examination by a primary health care professional. The amount of data received and the realisation of the maximum time limits varied based on factors such as the maximum time limit, service type, method of contact, the professional group of the receiving professional, and the service provider.

Access to treatment had to be provided within two weeks when the matter concerned illness, injury, worsening of a chronic condition, new symptoms or a decline in functional capacity, and the treatment fell within the scope of general practice. A lot of data concerning these initial treatment contacts related to access to treatment was submitted to the Avohilmo register.

The maximum time limit of three months was the most likely to be realised, for example, for appointments for medical statements or certificates. Of these appointments, 99% took place within the maximum time limit.

Little data on follow-up appointments with a physician, dentist and dental specialist was submitted to the register.

The wellbeing services counties, the City of Helsinki, the Finnish Student Health Service, Health Care Services for Prisoners and the health care services of reception centres were obliged to submit data on access to treatment for THL.

About the data in more detail

Database reports

About the reports

The data in the database reports on access to treatment are reported for those non-urgent outpatient treatment events whose data have been submitted to the Avohilmo register. The numbers have mainly not been verified, meaning that the review of numbers carried out by experts is not included.

The database reports can be used to view data on access to treatment, for example, by operating unit, service form or professional group. A legislative filter is available for some of the database reports on access to treatment, which allows you to view the data based on the maximum time limit set in the Health Care Act valid at a given time.

Report types

The situational overview reports contain data on the realisation of all the maximum time limits, as well as the quantity and quality of the data received.

The database report is a predefined summary of data indicating how the maximum time limit has been realised. Service providers may publish data on the realisation of maximum time limits on their own organisation’s website by providing a link to the database report. Service providers have a duty under the Health Care Act to publish data on access to treatment compiled by THL.

A cube is a table of data that shows how a given maximum time limit has been realised. Compared to the database report, users can apply a more versatile set of filters to the cube data.

A statistical report is an annual summary of the key data on outpatient care in primary health care and the data quality, presented as text, images and tables.

Instructions on using the reports

Statistical report

Read the entire statistical report (Julkari) (in Finnish)

Reporting services

Indicator data in Sotkanet

Background information

The quality report of the statistical report describes the missing data from the statistical year and assesses the data coverage and quality. Information about the most recent missing data is provided on the website.

Source

The data on this page are based on the Access to treatment in primary health care statistics.

Description of the statistics

The statistics contain data on the contacts made by patients and the realisation of non-urgent outpatient visits and remote contacts related to access to treatment in primary health care within the maximum time limits laid down in the Health Care Act.

Data on access to treatment in primary health care have been collected with a survey since 2005, and since 2014, the data have been submitted from patient records systems to the Avohilmo register. The data in the statistics are obtained from service providers, such as wellbeing services counties, and the obtained data are based on document entries made by health care professionals. Service providers are responsible for the quantity and accuracy of the data they submit.

The register data are supplemented with an annual survey on access to primary health care that concerns the data that are not yet reliably available from the Avohilmo register in accordance with the guide on health appointment notifications.

Update schedule

A statistical report on the realisation of access to treatment in the previous year is published each year, typically by the summer.

See the database reports for up-to-date information about the realisation of access to treatment. The data are updated from the Avohilmo register to the reports monthly, usually on the 15th day of the month.

Contact details

Persons responsible for the statistics: Tiina Marttila and Raimo Mahkonen.

Any enquiries should primarily be sent to the shared email address avohilmo(at)thl.fi.