Diabetes care
The Espoo Diabetes Centre provides care for people with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. The city’s health centres provide care for type 2 (adult-onset) diabetics.
Diabetes Centre
Laboratory and X-ray imaging
Laboratories
HUSLAB provides laboratory services for Espoo residents. A referral from a health centre physician or nurse or from a physician elsewhere in the HUS district is required for laboratory tests. You may visit any HUSLAB laboratory in the Helsinki metropolitan region.
X-ray and other imaging services
The HUS Medical Imaging Centre provides imaging services for all Espoo residents. A referral from a health centre physician is always required for imaging examinations. You may visit any HUS imaging unit across municipal boundaries for basic examinations, i.e. bone, lung and tooth imaging.
You do not need an appointment for routine X-ray imaging, such as bone or lung imaging. You need to book an appointment for other imaging examinations, such as some ultrasound examinations, mammography and scoliosis examinations.
Health advice at Terveyskylä.fi
The Terveyskylä health advice website offers information for laboratory and imaging clients before their examination in Finnish.
Bone fractures
If you are unable to take even a single step after an injury or if your arm is clearly in a wrong position, you may have fractured a bone.
Bone fractures on weekdays at 8–16
If you suspect you have broken a bone, first call your own health centre on 09 816 34500 to get detailed instructions.
Bone fractures outside these hours
The Medical Helpline, tel. 116 117, serves Espoo residents on weekdays at 16–08. On weekends and bank holidays, the Medical Helpline serves around the clock. The helpline will tell you what to do and instruct you to the nearest emergency care provider.
Follow-up examinations of fractures are performed at the Samaria Health Centre
The physician who treats you at Jorvi Hospital will give you instructions on how to book the follow-up examination. The Samaria Health Centre performs the follow-up examinations of fractures for all Espoo residents. The Samaria Health Centre is located at the address Terveyskuja 2, Espoon keskus.
Free care supplies
You may receive care supplies for free based on a referral from your attending physician.
Free care supplies
Treatment of chronic diseases
In the case of chronic diseases that require monitoring (e.g. asthma, diabetes, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure), the goal is good therapeutic control. If you have a chronic disease, keeping the disease under control largely depends on how actively you monitor it.
Treatment of chronic diseases (In Finnish)
Birth control
The Family Planning Clinics at Espoo’s health centres provide professional advice on currently available contraceptive methods. You may also ask any questions you have about abortion. We also perform IUD (intrauterine device) and contraceptive implant fittings, check-ups and removals.
The City of Espoo provides now free contraception as follows:
If you are under 25 years of age, you can get free of charge
- combined oral contraceptive pills or progestogen-only pills (the ‘mini pill’), or a contraceptive vaginal ring for 12 months if you have not used hormonal contraception before
- your first copper IUD, hormonal IUD or contraceptive implant
- at a postpartum check-up or abortion: combined oral contraceptive pills or progestogen-only pills (the ‘mini pill’), or a contraceptive vaginal ring for 12 months or copper IUD, hormonal IUD or contraceptive implant
- free condoms from the school/student nurse and at the health centre when you have an appointment.
If you are 25 years of age or older, you can get free of charge
- combined oral contraceptive pills or progestogen-only pills (the ‘mini pill’), or a contraceptive vaginal ring for 3 months if you have not used hormonal contraception before
- copper IUD, if you have not used IUD before.
You can get free contraception from your school/student nurse or at the Family Planning Clinic at health centres. To the Family Planning Clinic you can book an appointment online on www.espoo.fi/e-healthcentre or on the health centres’ customer service number 09 816 34500, Mon–Fri at 7–18 (Oma Lääkärisi Matinkylä, tel. 09 855 4100, Oma Lääkärisi Espoontori, tel. 09 855 4303).
Renewal of prescriptions
If you need to renew a prescription, always contact the unit that is in charge of your treatment. If we are not in charge of your treatment in a matter for which you have been prescribed a medicine, we cannot renew that prescription. In this case, we will send the prescription back to you, so that you can send it to the unit in charge of your treatment.
Renewal of electronic prescriptions
You may request the renewal of an electronic prescription in any of the following ways:
-
Through the My Kanta service.
- Ask a pharmacy to renew it. Please note that some pharmacies may charge a fee for prescription renewals.
- Call the appointment booking and counselling number of your health centre.
- Visit the patient office of a health centre. You do not need to book an appointment, but please be aware that you may need to queue. Health centres used to have prescription mailboxes where you could leave prescriptions that you wished to have renewed, but these mailboxes are no longer available. Current legislation requires us to verify the identity of the person whose prescription is going to be renewed.
When you request the renewal of a prescription, you need to bring with you a list of all medicinal products you are using. You may use this template: List of medicinal products (In Finnish). Legislation and patient safety require that all medicinal products you use are assessed when your prescriptions are renewed.
Vaccinations
Basic vaccines listed in the Finnish national vaccination programme
Basic vaccines (e.g. tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella) are available from health centres, child health clinics and school health care. Book a vaccination appointment online, or by calling the appointment booking number of your health centre or by calling a public health nurse directly.
The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL):
Influenza vaccination
Vaccination of travellers
Health centre clients: The prevention of some diseases requires several doses of vaccine. Please contact a public health nurse at your health centre well before your trip. A public health nurse will arrange the necessary vaccine prescription(s) for you. After you receive the prescription(s), you need to buy the vaccines at a pharmacy at your own cost.
In addition to basic vaccines, you may need additional vaccines or medication (e.g. against malaria and yellow fever).
The need for additional vaccines and medication depends on the country where you intend to travel, potential heightened risks and the nature and duration of your stay. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the health guide for travellers (in Finnish) published by the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
The World Health Organization recommends that a person should receive a dose of polio vaccine if more than 12 months have passed since the previous dose and the person
- will travel to a country where the risk of contracting polio is high
- arrives in Finland after spending more than four weeks in such a country.
Polio vaccine is recommended before travelling to any of the countries on this list (in Finnish)
TBE vaccination
The vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is subject to a charge. To get a prescription, call a public health nurse at your health centre. Then buy the vaccine at a pharmacy and bring it with you to a nurse’s vaccination appointment. You may book a vaccination appointment online, by calling the appointment booking number of the health centre, or by calling a public health nurse directly.
Online appointment booking for a vaccination appointment
To ensure sufficient immunity, we recommend that you begin the vaccine series already in the winter, well before the tick season. For example, on Åland Islands the tick season begins in May. The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has published a map of TBE risk areas (in Finnish).
Request your vaccine information
All vaccines you have been given in Espoo are listed in the My Kanta service if at least one vaccine has been given after 2014. If your information is not in the My Kanta service, you may request it from your health centre.
Allergen immunotherapy
The Tapiola Health Centre provides allergen immunotherapy for Espoo residents. Allergen immunotherapy is available for patients allergic to birch, mugwort or timothy-grass who have hay fever or asthma.
The need for allergen immunotherapy is assessed and the treatment is begun by specialised medical care providers (the Skin and Allergy Hospital or the Jorvi Hospital). To get assessed, you need a referral from a health centre physician.
When a patient enters the maintenance phase of allergen immunotherapy, they transfer back to their health centre. Pollen allergen immunotherapy usually takes three years. The annual control visits of asthma patients, and every patient’s control visit at the end of the treatment are performed as specialised medical care.
You may visit the allergen immunotherapy reception of the Tapiola Health Centre without appointment
- on Tuesdays at 8–10
- on Thursdays at 14–16
If you have any questions concerning allergen immunotherapy, please call the Tapiola Health Centre appointment booking number 09 816 34500 (at 7–18) and request a call back. Street address: Ahertajantie 2
Cancer screening
Espoo invites all Espoo residents who belong to cancer screening target groups to attend a screening. This also applies to those Espoo residents who have chosen to attend a health centre in another municipality. If you cannot attend a cancer screening test offered by the City of Espoo, please contact the screening location of your new health centre and present the screening invitation from the City of Espoo.
Breast cancer screenings in 2019
Women aged 50–68 born in 1951, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1969 will be invited to screening mammography, that is, a screening to detect breast cancer. The invitations are sent out by post, starting from the younger generations.
If you are among the invited group, you will receive an invitation about two weeks before your mammography appointment. If the proposed time does not suit you, you may reschedule it.
If you have not received an invitation by the beginning of December 2019, please contact Synlab directly at 010 326 3260. If an order of non-disclosure for personal safety has been issued on you, we cannot send you an invitation. In this case, please book an appointment by phone.
Mammography:
Synlab, Fredrikinkatu 48, 00100 Helsinki, contact information (In Finnish)
Cervical cancer screenings in 2019
Women aged 30–60 born in 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984 and 1989 and living in Espoo will be invited to a free cervical cancer screening (a Pap smear). The invitations will be sent in alphabetical order by last name.
A Pap smear is used to check for precancerous or cancerous cells in the cervix. It may also reveal infections that need treatment. It is important that persons aged 30−40 also have a Pap smear taken. Pregnancy does not prevent the test.
You will receive the invitation by post. If the proposed time does not suit you, you may reschedule or cancel it online or by phone on 09 471 86800 (Mon–Fri at 8–15). We have centralised the booking of appointments to these services. As a result, you cannot book or reschedule an appointment by contacting a sample collection site directly. The invitation will remain in force throughout 2019.
Pap smear collection sites in Espoo:
- HUSLAB Tapiola Laboratory: Ahertajantie 2, 02100 Espoo
- HUSLAB Samaria Laboratory: Terveyskuja 2, 02770 Espoo
- HUSLAB Leppävaara Laboratory: Tinurinkuja 4, 0265 Espoo
You may also visit other HUSLAB Pap smear collection sites for example in Helsinki or Vantaa. The invitation letter includes a list of laboratories where Pap smears are collected.
If you have not received an invitation by the beginning of December 2019, please contact HUSLAB directly at 09 471 86800. If an order of non-disclosure for personal safety has been issued on you, we cannot send you an invitation. In this case, please book an appointment by phone.
Further information about cervical cancer screenings is available on the websites of the Cancer Society of Finlandand HUSLAB.
Infectious diseases
Health centres provide treatment for and advice on infectious diseases.
Infectious Diseases Unit
The Infectious Diseases Unit of the City of Espoo takes measures related to and monitors generally hazardous communicable diseases and communicable diseases of which a notification must be made to the National Institute for Health and Welfare . In addition, it investigates outbreaks and epidemics and provides counselling and steering. The Infectious Diseases Unit cooperates with regional contact persons for communicable diseases, the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) and the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
Contact information:
Street address:
Tapiola Health Centre, Ahertajantie 2
Postal address:
P.O. Box 2214
02070 City of Espoo
Contact person for the authorities in matters concerning communicable diseases: public health nurse, tel. 046 877 1802.