Care waiting lists for eye diseases have continued to grow during 2023. The Finnish Association of Vision and Eyecare NÄE ry is calling for the quick implementation of several measures in accordance with the government program, so that the dismantling of care waiting lists would be realistic.
At the end of April 2023, there were 28,000 patients on the waiting list for specialized eye care in Finland. The waiting list grew has grown by more than 3,000 patients since the end of January. Specialized eye healthcare is mainly carried out in the public sector.
“During the beginning of the year, the waiting lists for the care of eye diseases have swelled by thousands of patients. We are in a situation where individual measures no longer help to dismantle waiting lists within the framework required by law,” commented Panu Tast, managing director of the Finnish Association of Vision and Eyecare NÄE ry.
Increasing the Kela compensation is now being prioritized as a tool to break down waiting lists for care. NÄE ry views this as an excellent activity and points out that the effectiveness of the action in eye healthcare would be ensured by the simultaneous dismantling of non-medical restrictions on optician activity from the healthcare professional regulation. Currently, the regulation excludes, among other things, eye examinations performed by an optometrist for those who have had laser surgery or cataract surgery, which places a completely unnecessary burden on the scarce specialist resources.
“The regulation is out of date, and there are no longer grounds for it in light of the current training and skills of optometrists. If the restrictions are not dismantled, the increase in Kela compensations may affect ophthalmology specialists shared by the private and public sectors in such a way that as the private sector’s demand increases, the public sector’s capacity to care for demanding eye diseases will decrease correspondingly,” says Tast.
In addition, NÄE ry would also speed up the clearing of waiting lists with measures to increase the use of purchasing services, in line with the government program.
First of all, the government program’s clear recording of the utilization of the service voucher will be implemented quickly. The government program states directly that if the customer does not receive the public service they need within the care guarantee period, they have the right to receive a service voucher or payment commitment for the service offered by another service provider.
“Currently, many ophthalmic care procedures and follow-up visits are significantly behind their schedules, even though the private sector constantly has plenty of capacity available to provide care. That’s why the entry must be placed into practice quickly,” Tast sums up.
Secondly, the restrictions related to subcontracting in the Healthcare and Social Services Organisation Act (Sote-järjestämislaki) should be removed in accordance with the proposals of the working group convened by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in the previous government term.
“The percentage restrictions that limit the use of purchasing services are not appropriate from the point of view of the finances of the wellbeing services counties – nor from the point of view of the customers’ access to care,” says Tast.
Thirdly, the policy regarding wellbeing services counties concerning the neglect of organizational responsibility needs to be made more concrete. For example, there should be financial consequences for exceeding the care guarantee deadlines. This could be, for example, reducing the borrowing authority when the care guarantee periods are exceeded.
“Optic shops and their optometrist and ophthalmologist offices as well as eye laboratories should be urgently integrated into a closer part of the care processes of public healthcare. This is also necessary because eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, age-related degeneration and diabetic eye diseases caused by the aging of the population will increasingly challenge our eye healthcare,” adds Tast.
Additional information
Panu Tast managing director, the Finnish Association of Vision and Eyecare NÄE ry +358 40 542 2227, panu.tast@naery.fi
