The digital clinic facilitates the use of health centre services in the autumn
Western Uusimaa is going to introduce the digital clinic, which will increase the residents’ opportunities for accessing social and health care services remotely. The digital clinic is a chat service which will allow you to have a conversation with a doctor or nurse conveniently. The service will be introduced first in Espoo, Lohja and Karviainen in autumn 2021. You can use the digital clinic safely by authenticating yourself with your online banking credentials, certificate card or mobile ID. The chatbot will first ask you a few questions about the nature of your business and then connect you to a doctor or nurse as needed.
Easier access to emergency appointment services
A chat service has already been at use, for example, in Espoo. However, this service has been more advisory in nature, as the personal data of the person accessing the service has not been verified, making it impossible to process patient data in the same way as during a traditional clinic appointment. The upcoming digital clinic will use strong authentication: in addition to advice, you can, for example, access your laboratory results or receive a prescription or referral. The services provided by the digital clinic are specific to each municipality.
Ease of use has been taken into account in the design of the digital clinic, and it can also be accessed on mobile devices.
“There has been a clear demand for digital services. The COVID-19 epidemic has caused telephone services to become busy at times, for example. By logging in to the digital clinic, the client gains quick access to the help they need. The digital clinic is a new service among others and telephone services, for example, will be maintained alongside it,” says Project Manager Annukka Hirvilahti.
During the first phase, the digital clinic will provide health centres’ emergency appointment services. For example, if you have flu symptoms, would like to ask about a rash or have other such sudden health needs, a digital clinic nurse or doctor may assess what your next step should be. In many cases, the digital clinic may be more convenient than the telephone service, because you can also attach images to chat conversations to make it easier for the doctor or nurse to make an assessment.
The digital clinic facilitates access to treatment. Conventional clinic and telephone services will, of course, remain alongside them.
In the future, the services provided by the digital clinic may be extended to cover follow- up visits of long-term illnesses, for example.
Join us in evaluating service prototypes in the summer!
The digital clinic will be experimented in Espoo, Lohja and Karviainen in autumn 2021. Raasepori will follow soon after.
The testing of the service is currently being planned, and in early summer, anyone interested will be able to evaluate the service prototypes in the Ideal Social and Health Services community. Why not join us!
The digital clinic is a part of the Western Uusimaa social and health services programme
- LU-sote
- Wellbeing Services County