The proposal of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health did not go through in the negotiations of the governing parties. The government decided to save on social security expenses in numerous other ways.
Social- and the Ministry of Health (STM) proposed, as a cost-saving measure before the government's budget crisis, that Uusimaa's welfare areas be combined.
The proposal did not go through in the negotiations between the governing parties. Instead, the government decided to save on social and healthcare spending by, for example, limiting service selections, increasing customer fees and reducing the care guarantee.
STM's proposal can be found in the memorandum submitted to the Ministry of Finance, which is dated March 19. In the memo, the ministry examines how the government could seek savings by changing the tasks and obligations of welfare areas.
According to the STM, one of the possible savings targets would have been to combine the five welfare areas of Uusimaa.
According to the ministry, this and the elimination of the so-called group money could save 65 million euros from 2028. The estimate mainly takes into account the savings arising from combining administration, investments and information technology.
“This would be a very big change, for the preparation of which sufficient time and resources should be allocated,” the ministry states in the memorandum.
Currently, Uusimaa is divided into the welfare regions of Western Uusimaa, Central Uusimaa, Eastern Uusimaa, Vantaa and Kerava, and Helsinki.
Social and according to the Ministry of Health, merging welfare areas would, among other things, lighten administrative structures and procedures. Support services, acquisitions and investments could be centralized and made more efficient.
“The reform would increase opportunities for the joint use of personnel and experts and reduce unhealthy competition between organizations, sub-optimization and break down overlaps”, the memorandum further explains, among other things.
According to the ministry, this would also bring uniform criteria, practices, methods and customer fees to the region.
In its memorandum, the ministry states in general that it is very difficult to achieve savings of hundreds of millions of euros by changing the implemented legislation.
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