HUS year 2022: Review by the Chair of the Executive Board: A year of cooperation

The year 2022 was challenging for a number of reasons. The health and social services reform, the strategy update and preparing for the HUS reorganization kept the executive board busy through the year. The coronavirus pandemic and industrial action by nurses brought added challenges, even though they did not directly impact the work of the executive board.

The executive board completed a lot of tasks: we updated the HUS strategy, prepared the budget for 2023 and executed the reorganization. We also appointed directors for the new profit areas and devised a long-term plan for HUS properties. I feel we attained really good outcomes in these matters.

For me, our most significant achievement in 2022 was that we established a good working relationship with the new wellbeing services counties. However, it will be years before we can begin gauging the success of the health and social services reform. No decisions can be set in stone; it must be possible to amend them if necessary.

Cooperation within the executive board is also excellent. There were actually two executive boards in the course of the year: the Joint Municipal Authority Executive Board and the Joint Authority Executive Board, which was established in the summer. These two were slightly different in composition. The cooperation we engaged in was really intense. It was a good thing that the new Joint Authority Executive began its work in the summer. I consider it important that we talk about things a lot and manage to resolve all things, even though we sometimes disagree.

With the advent of the health and social services reform, we revised the HUS strategy for the period 2023–2027. The foundation of our operations – our values and mission – remain the same, but our goals changed. Strategy work is pointless unless it leads to concrete outcomes. In 2023, we will begin implementing the new strategy in practice. It will require cooperation, and therefore HR management issues are at the very core of this effort. Although personnel surveys show that we are moving in the right direction, we need to continue to improve our employee experience and good leadership.

We need to focus most on the things that are the most effective. HUS on its own cannot do very much; we need to work together with the wellbeing services counties and with the City of Helsinki. Cutting down waiting lists is a concrete example of this. 

In 2023, I expect above all that cooperation between the various parties involved will progress. Not just in terms of talking but also in terms of finding good solutions. I expect full and frank discussions and courage to take changes forward, because that will ultimately benefit patients, employees and taxpayers alike.

Risto Rautava
Chair of the Executive Board: