Columns Does the autonomy of hospital districts compromise patient safety?

In Jämijärvi there was a catastrophe seven years ago that killed eight parachutists. The Accident Investigation Board later investigated the activities of the rescue authorities. It turned out that the departure of the medical helicopter to the scene of the accident in Satakunta was delayed by 22 minutes.

The reason was that in the area of ​​the Satakunta Hospital District, a medical helicopter had not been defined in the emergency instructions for the first response, so the emergency doctor had to order the helicopter separately. The emergency center did not automatically alert the helicopter to the Satakunta area.

Hospital districts are autonomous, so their alarm instructions can vary considerably. The law also does not require the use of the nearest alarm unit.

In Kuopio A dissertation was held on Friday last week, in which Jukka Pappinen argued about the regional availability of emergency care services. Pappinen works as a research and development expert for the medical helicopter company Finnhems. In his research, he elucidated the emergency tasks of first aid with the help of spatial data.

Spatial data research can be used to assess the equity and equity of public health care.

Pappinen used about 20,000 first aid tasks as his material, in which the cause of the alarm was a sudden cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage. He found that one in six positions was located where the fastest-reaching hospital did not meet the boundaries of the hospital district or special area of ​​responsibility.

Thus, possibly 3,000 patients were transported to the hospital whose hospital district included the ambulance instead of the nearest hospital. Hospital districts when autonomous.

Priestly another significant finding was the impact of the use of medical helicopters on the inhabitants of remote areas. As many as a third of patients requiring university-level treatment would have been able to access treatment by helicopter about half an hour faster than by ambulance.

There are six medical helicopter bases in Finland, and two more are planned to be established in Seinäjoki and Utti in Kouvola.

According to the expert group, the most suitable location in south-eastern Finland would have been Lappeenranta, where a medical helicopter reaches a considerable number of people. The placement changed with the ministerial-level haulage home to the much more remote Utti.

Already, the autonomy of hospital districts can prevent a patient from being transported to the nearest hospital. The helicopter base should be located as close as possible to the patients.

The author is the regional editor of HS.