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Five from Finland

Health consultation

Finnish innovations are helping connect people to the services they need most when they encounter various health challenges.Julia Bushueva

Finnish firms are leading the way towards better patient consultation and ease of assistance.

These healthcare solutions from Finland draw on the locals’ love of technology, creating proximity and convenience for professionals, patients and their close ones.

According to this service provider, the future of healthcare is digital, personalised and preventive. And so, the online doctor is ready to see you.

“We are changing the way people think about visiting a doctor. The disruption is similar to what has happened in banking,” described Heltti CEO Timo Lappi. “Going to the doctor’s can mean picking up your smartphone and using a digital connection.”

This innovative care coordination and patient engagement platform enables patients to stay on track during their lead-up to surgery and subsequent recovery.

“The BuddyCare app provides patients with all the information they need to navigate through the surgery process,” CEO Jussi Määttä explained in 2017. “Nurses and doctors use our web tool to track which patients are doing well and which ones need more attention. Patients are flagged when there is an exception in their pathway.”

People often want to offer assistance to the ill or injured but don’t always know how. This mobile app effortlessly connects patients and their friends, families, peers and volunteer helpers. A patient can invite their loved ones to join the app and when they need help – whether it’s picking up milk or walking their dog – send out a request to their support group.

“You don’t have to ask anyone separately; the request goes to everyone in your network,” explained Carita Savin, CEO and co-founder of Huoleti. “It lowers the barrier for asking for help, and no one has to say they can’t help. Instead, those who can reply to the request do, and the patient then chooses whose help they would like.”

The company was recently picked among Europe’s leading government technology startups and won at the UN-affiliated World Summit Awards 2018.

Answering work emails at 2 am? Difficulties with the teenager in the household? Communicating with your spouse by exchanging snide comments? Auntie is a preventive therapy service that combines digital and live sessions to help people to juggle whatever troubles life has thrown their way.

“Auntie isn’t for people with clinical mental disorders, as they require a different level of professional care,” co-founder Mervi Lamminen underlined to us. “Whilst helping people, we also want to contribute to the availability of low-threshold services and, in general, help to remove the stigma that unfortunately can still surround seeking therapy.”

Some ailments are easier to diagnose, some harder. While some things cannot be remedied at home, there are many things you can do yourself to boost your care path. This online health information solution helps to facilitate them.

“When people with health concerns go to the website of their local public healthcare provider that we’ve partnered with, at any time of the day, there will be a link to our web service where they can specify all their symptoms by navigating through a query,” explained managing director Hannu Nissinen. “Our service then relays this information to the right counter, the system algorithms having determined the severity and urgency, and the patient will be given an appointment accordingly.”

Originally published in October 2018

By: James O’Sullivan
13.03.2020