In addition to the omicron conversion, the shortening of treatment queues is hampered by the fact that Mehiläinen, who won the competition last year, did not complete his career.
Helsinki politicians are making an emergency decision on new purchases from the private because there is still a queue of thousands of people for emergency dental care.
The Social Welfare Board will consider the decision on fast direct procurement on Tuesday, as the tender held last year to save the situation has gone completely to the ground.
Leading dentist Sebastian Kaste says that there are still about 9,000 people in Helsinki whose treatment has been interrupted or not started in oral health due to the pandemic. Some may have already received help, but the maintenance debt is still substantial.
Towards the end of the year, it was estimated that the debt could be contracted out this year. Then the bidding went on and the omikron arrived. Now the estimate is for the spring of 2023.
“So in adult coronary debt. We now focus on caring for children because they are in a particularly vulnerable position, ”Kaste describes.
He promises that a wide range of means will be used to alleviate the situation for adults as well.
From private auxiliary forces have been sought in two ways: service vouchers and purchasing service.
A change related to service vouchers, ie an increase in the value of the total care service voucher, will also be presented to the Board on Tuesday.
Ordinary Helsinki residents have mostly given good feedback on the banknotes, and the increase does not directly affect the part of the bill that remains to be paid by them. Instead, the increase is intended to reduce the financial risk for private service providers, as there have not been enough people interested in the current conditions.
Tendering for a broader contract for the purchase of oral health care, on the other hand, will have to start from scratch.
Mehiläinen won last year’s competition in the summer. The agreement entered into force in October and was to run for three years.
The health giant was unable to provide the agreed number of services towards the end of the year. The reason was told that Mehiläinen was short of staff.
The bee wanted to withdraw from the contract. The city decided in December that the contract would be terminated on the last day of January.
A new competition will take time. Therefore, it is proposed to politicians that the city will purchase emergency dental care from Spider Med oy from the end of February until the end of the year.
The money for this is about 2.2 million euros.
Tender the reason for the failure was therefore recruitment problems. The same, of course, has a direct effect on the city’s own services. There is a severe shortage of dentists nationwide.
The dentist says that during the omicron wave, staff from oral health care have not been completely transferred to other tasks. Instead, in addition to their own work, dentists and ward nurses have also been involved in vaccinations.
Vaccinations no longer require additional staff from oral health care, so Kaste thinks that the care debt can be repaid at a slightly faster pace as additional work in the evenings and on weekends. The critical issue is precisely the number of professionals, not directly the money, as Helsinki has set aside additional money in its budget for repairing traces of the corona for this as well.
“I would like to thank our professionals who have volunteered to do a lot of extra work in the evenings and on the weekends,” Kaste says.
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