Social welfare, healthcare and rescue services are provided by the wellbeing services county of Pirkanmaa as of 1 January 2023 – what will change in the services of Tampere and Orivesi?

The change is due to the healthcare and social welfare services reform in which municipal social welfare and healthcare services and the services of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District and the Pirkanmaa Rescue Department are moved over to the wellbeing services county of Pirkanmaa. 

Services moved to the wellbeing services county include social welfare and health centre, dental clinic, child health clinic, home care, social work, child welfare, disability, older people, hospital, emergency medical and rescue services.

What does not change on 1 January 2023

The same service points will continue in the current premises and with the current personnel. You can, for example, visit the same health centre or child health clinic as before. The wellbeing services county may make changes to the services and service points at a later stage.

Your care and customer relationships will not change. Your current appointments, places in treatment queues, referrals and client and patient data will be preserved. Granted service vouchers and interpretation services will also remain the same. Please remember to use the service voucher you received this year by the end of the year, or if you do not have time to use it, contact the unit from which you received the service voucher.

The Pirkanmaa Rescue Department already operates as a regional service, and there will be no changes to its services.

The medical helpline number and the emergency number remain unchanged. Call the medical helpline number 116 117 always when you are thinking about going to an emergency care unit. In an urgent case, call 112.

The mobile phone numbers and the phone numbers of Tampere University Hospital (Tays) will not change.

Sanna Juurakko and Taija Mehtonen continue as Tampere and Orivesi social ombudsmen, and Iiris Markkanen and Taija Mehtonen continue as patient ombudsmen. The phone numbers will remain the same, but at the beginning of 2023, the email addresses will change to ending in pirha.fi: [email protected] and [email protected]. Do not send confidential customer or patient information to ombudsmen' emails.

What changes on 1 January 2023

Tampere and Orivesi social welfare and healthcare services phone numbers beginning with 03 will change at the beginning of the year, but calls will be automatically forwarded to the correct number until 30 April 2023. 

• For example, the number and name of healthcare counselling will change: When your health centre is closed and you need guidance regarding healthcare services or an assessment of the need for treatment, you call Pirkanmaa health counselling at 03 384 5000 starting from 1 January 2023. 
• The numbers of the social services helpline and Kotitori, which offers help for older people, persons with disabilities and persons with mental health and substance abuse issues, will also change: the new number of the social services helpline is 03 3845 700, and Kotitori’s new number is 040 733 3949. 
• For more information on other changing 03 numbers, see: news item about the change in phone numbers

Email addresses will change. The wellbeing services county’s email addresses will end with @pirha.fi. In addition to the employees’ email addresses, changes will also be made to the services’ shared email addresses. You can find information on these on the wellbeing services county’s website at pirha.fi/palvelut (in Finnish). 

Websites will change: From now on, information about social welfare and healthcare services will be available on the wellbeing services county’s website at pirha.fi. Information concerning Tays services will also be available on the website. Kotitori’s new address is www.pirkanmaankotitori.fi. The rescue department’s website will remain at pelastustoimi.fi/pirkanmaa. A temporary website for the contact information of the most popular public social and health services of which the wellbeing services county of Pirkanmaa is responsible is available at Tampere.fi. 

The criteria for access to treatment, all compensations and reimbursements as well as client fees will be identical from 1 January 2023 throughout Pirkanmaa. The dates of payment of compensations and reimbursements may change. Some clients' benefits and client fees will change slightly. If a decision made by the municipality changes, the new decision is delivered to the customer.

Lähitori cards will not be used anymore.

You can receive the wellbeing services county of Pirkanmaa’s client fee invoices in your online bank. To do this, you must sign an e-invoice agreement with the wellbeing services county in your online bank.

If you use online services, you will need to fill in the consent form for using online services again.

Where can I find information?

You can find more information on the changes on the wellbeing services county’s website at pirha.fi, from where you will also find information on social welfare and healthcare services from the beginning of 2023. You can also ask for advice through a chat on the pirha.fi website.

Information on the changes has been compiled for Tampere and Orivesi residents on the City of Tampere website: The reform of healthcare, social welfare and rescue services. 

If you cannot find the information you are looking for online, the general helpline of the social welfare and healthcare services in the wellbeing services county will help you at 03 384 5050 on weekdays from 8 to 18. The helpline does not process customer data or assess the need for a service or treatment.

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Updated 5.1.2023
Added information about the temporary website for the contact information of the most popular public social and health services available at tampere.fi.