Health centers Residents report harsh experiences at the praised health center in Kannelmäki – Henna Heikkilä could not get treatment at all because the doctor was “disabled”

Helsinki The Kannelmäki health center, which has been outsourced and previously praised, does not work as well as all the public has suggested.

HS at the beginning of February, the health center reported on reduced waiting times for a doctor’s office after the health center was privatized to Terveystalo.

Privatization took place last October. According to comparison statistics published by the City of Helsinki, the queuing time for non-urgent care in Kannelmäki is currently an average of 15 days, compared to 42 days in April 2021.

Read more: Super-short queues at Helsinki’s two outsourced health centers – The comparison is not fair yet, says the general practitioner

However, the experiences of some residents also tell of a different kind of everyday life behind short queues. Some residents have not had access to treatment at all or access to treatment has been very difficult. Some have changed health status.

FacebookThe Kannelmäki movement has discussed the Kannelmäki Health Center on several occasions, at least last October, December and now February.

There are criticisms, but there are many who are very happy with the privatization and who think that service and access to care have clearly improved.

Henna Heikkilä says the 15 – day average queuing time for him is far from realized.

“It simply came to our notice then. I didn’t get treatment at all, ”Heikkilä tells Helsingin Sanomat.

Heikkilä suffers from chronic migraines, which means that he has migraine attacks every 3 to 5 weeks. Heikkilä says that he called the Kannelmäki health center for the first time in early December to get help and permanent medication to treat migraines.

“I was told it was full, call again later. When I called again, it was said again that there are no free doctor’s hours, ”says Heikkilä.

Kannelmäen privatization of the health center has been implemented with a policy whereby no caller’s first contact with the health center is left as a mere appointment request, but the caller is taken care of immediately during the call.

In the case of Heikkilä, this did not happen. He contacted the health center a total of three times until he finally got time for the end of January. The day before, however, time was canceled by the health center.

“It was said that the doctor was blocked. No new time was offered for the farm. At that point, I switched to Malmi. ”

Malmin to the health center, he got a doctor’s appointment on the first phone call in a couple of weeks. Now Heikkilä has a new referral for further examinations to the Meilahti Migraine Unit by the end of February.

“Ore is much further away from us, but I can’t wait indefinitely. I have three small children and I also work. Chronic migraine really affects everyday life a lot, because in my opinion it also causes neurological symptoms and affects, for example, balance, walking and hearing. ”

Chief Chief Physician of the City of Helsinki West Health Centers Timo Carpén is aware that some customers have changed Kannelmäki ‘s health status since privatization.

“A few hundred customers have left the Kannelmäki health center since the beginning of October, but on the other hand, some new customers have also come. More new customers have come to Malminkartano, for example, ”Carpén sent an e-mail to Helsingin Sanomat.

Petra Vuorelan the experience of Kannelmäki’s new health center is also poor. She explains how there was no access to the health center for treatment at all.

“I tried to set aside time for ear rinsing because I have narrow ear canals and I have to visit [korvahuuhteluissa] regularly. It was reported that we do not do such, have to deal with themselves. I was sorry, this is a normal thing and has always been taken care of before, ”Vuorela tells Helsingin Sanomat.

According to Vuorela, an attempt was made to end the call, but he did not give up.

“I argued about it for a while, and surprisingly there was time for the next day. But it doesn’t really awaken confidence if you have to start justifying whether the problem is real or not. ”

Health station with the privatization, the health center building also changed. This has caused considerable inconvenience to Vuorela, as he is in a wheelchair and, according to him, the accessibility aspect has not been sufficiently taken into account in the new premises.

“The old health center is very easy to get to with a wheelchair, there were doors that open, no thresholds, all on one floor. Now you can’t get in from the front door at all. You have to go around the whole house to get in through the back door,” Vuorela says.

According to Vuorela, the main entrance also has a ramp, but it is poorly designed for him.

“It’s too narrow and too steep and there’s no room in the wheelchair in front of the doors to move around in a wheelchair. Inside, again, there are plenty of thresholds, heavy doors and cramped elevators. Accessibility has deteriorated by one hundred percent, ”says Vuorela.

Vuorela has been considering changing his health center.

“I’m disappointed. It does not make sense to contact a health center if it is a matter of arguing about the measures. After all, those queues are made short when people move elsewhere, ”says Vuorela.

Chief Medical Officer Timo Carpén informed Helsingin Sanomat by e-mail that accessibility issues should be in order.

The Health Center, which is responsible for the operation of the health center, was informed by e-mail to HS that there has been “unfortunately a variation in the level of service”. According to the company, some employees have had to learn how to use Apot and therefore not everything has worked as expected.

According to Terveystalo, the fact that some patients have not had access to the usual procedures is due to the fact that the company implements the treatments and services specified by the city at the health center and there may be differences in their availability.

According to the company, there has been no feedback on accessibility.