According to the Constitution of Finland, public authorities must guarantee adequate social, medical and health services and promote the health of population. Finland offers its residents universal health care, which means public healthcare is available to all residents in Finland, regardless of their financial situation. The responsibility for organising these services lies with the local government, the municipalities.

Municipal social welfare and health care services, implemented with government support, form the basis of the social welfare and health care system. Private health care services complement public health care service provision. Private-sector service providers account for just over a quarter of all social welfare and health care services. However, the share of private care, especially in the social services sector, is on the increase.

Finland's entire health care system will be overhauled in the next few years to meet the health care and social welfare challenges of the 21st century. The aim of the reform is to lower the boundaries between primary health care and specialized medical care. Interaction between health care and social welfare will be increased at the same time. 

Tehy works to safeguard the interests of its members in these structural changes. 

  • There are over 220,000 Finnish health care professionals, of whom 91% are women, whilst some 4000 work abroad
  • Just over 2% of all health care professionals who are employed in Finland have an immigration background