Social welfare and healthcare services will move from Vaasa to the Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia at the turn of the year

The biggest change from a client and patient perspective is the name of the organisation and the new service numbers. However, the old telephone numbers of the social welfare and healthcare units will remain operational for a transitional period of six months.

– When basic healthcare services, social welfare and specialised medical care are one organisation, the client always contacts the right place when contacting the Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia. We are striving to ensure that everything runs smoothly in January, but we hope that clients and patients will understand if and when challenges arising from the changes arise in our information systems, for example. We are doing our best to make the services run well, says the Director of the wellbeing services county Marina Kinnunen.

New numbers, familiar faces

– Clients and patients are generally served by the same familiar professionals at a local health station or social welfare service there. Specialist nursing services can still be found in the same places as before, Kinnunen explains.

The assessment of the need for care, guidance and counselling, and healthcare appointments will be centralised in the Customer Service Centre (06 218 9000, in operation from 1 January 2022).

In the initial phase, calls will continue to be connected to the health station located in your municipality, until a unified operating model is created for the entire county. Phone services may be congested at first and you may have to wait longer than usual for a return call.

Oral healthcare also has its own county advice number where you can make an appointment with a dentist, dental nurse or oral hygienist and get advice. (06 218 9100, in operation from 1 January 2022).

Customers of social welfare services may continue to be in contact with a service unit located in the Vaasa area or through the same unit through which the service has been included.

The joint social and crisis emergency service serves the entire county. (06 218 9555, in operation from 1 January 2022)

From the beginning of January, the telephone exchange in the wellbeing services county will forward calls from all social welfare and healthcare units in the county. The telephone exchange (06 218 1111, in operation from 1 January 2022) helps, for example, when the required contact information cannot be found elsewhere.

The change will appear on the city’s website as a guide to the new service

As of 1 January 2022, the information on social welfare and healthcare services on the City of Vaasa website will no longer be updated but will still be available for residents at the beginning of the year. The most up-to-date and updated information can be found on the website of the Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia at en.osterbottensvalfard.fi, so it is worth bookmarking the new pages and subscribing to the social media channels. We will continue to use the city’s media channels to inform about the possible effects of the coronavirus on our own services, such as the operation of schools or cultural services.

• Online service: en.osterbottensvalfard.fi
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