HUS year 2022: Laboratories and imaging
The year under review included both improvement of operations and challenges. Our services were impacted by availability of personnel and by the nurses’ strike in the spring. The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on our operations decreased substantially.
About 50% of the operating revenue of the HUS Diagnostics Center in 2022 came from internal customers and about 19% from coronavirus test sampling or analytics.
The nursing staff strike in the spring and personnel availability issues posed challenges for providing services. However, we managed quite well to deal with the backlog that built up during the strike.
Sampling improved and bowel cancer screening launched
During the year under review, we continued to improve our appointment based sampling, and mobile sampling was introduced at every HUS hospital and in the Kymsote and Eksote districts. We also launched statutory screening for bowel cancer in residents aged 60 to 70.
IT system reforms progressed in the year under review. There were problems with the deployment of the Apotti system in the autumn, but the digipathology project and the procurement of the Digi-EKG system for clinical physiology progressed according to plan.
New equipment acquired for the Bridge Hospital
One of the most substantial projects in the year under review was the procurement of equipment and furniture for the new Bridge Hospital. These included two angiography systems for contrast media imaging and three computed tomography devices for examining structures of the body, such as bones, internal organs and blood vessels.
The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on our operations decreased
Covid sampling continued through the year. Sampling was at its highest early in the year and then tapered off dramatically towards the end of the year as municipalities tightened their sampling criteria. By the end of the year, we were mainly testing patients who required hospitalization. Testing at borders – in ports and at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport – was discontinued in March.
| 2022 | 2021 | Change 2022–2021 | Change % | |
| Radiological examinations and procedures | 1,144,007 | 1,140,214 | 3,793 | +0.3% |
| Pathology | 382,940 | 384,541 | -1,601 | -0.4% |
| Sampling | 4,067,648 | 5,470,965 | -1,403,317 | -25.7% |
| Clinical physiology examinations and isotope studies | 602,959 | 634,412 | -31,453 | -5.0% |
| Clinical neurophysiology examinations | 27,381 | 26,569 | 812 | +3.1% |
| Genetics | 48,146 | 51,178 | -3,032 | -5.9% |
| Chemistry and hematology | 18,507,360 | 19,197,779 | -690,419 | -3.6% |
| Blood products | 83,286 | 97,927 | -14,641 | -15% |
| Microbiology | 2,568,001 | 3,844,211 | -1,276,210 | -33.2% |
| Other examinations and services | 484,420 | 422,549 | 61,871 | +14.6% |
| Total | 27,925,136 | 31,285,256 | -3,360,120 | -10.7% |
| Clinical genetics appointments | 6,194 | 6,981 | -789 | -11.3% |