HUS year 2022: Patient care in figures

In specialized medical care, we treated 589,657 patients in our own services and outsourced services. The number of patients in specialized medical care was 0.3% higher than in the previous year. 

Our specialized medical care services were used by 543,814 residents of member municipalities, a decrease of 1,680 residents on the previous year. 

During the year under review, we received nearly 540,000 customer feedback messages and attained our NPS goals in all units.  

The operating volume of medical services was 7.2% under budget while showing a decrease of 4.4% on the previous year. 

We received about 339,600 elective referrals in 2022, down 0.6% on the previous year. HUS received 1,340 elective referrals every weekday on average, as opposed to 1,350 in 2021.  

Decrease in emergency department visits and childbirths 

The number of emergency department visits for specialized medical care (258,582) decreased by 2.7% on the previous year. On average, there were 710 such visits every day. In 2021 and 2022, remote appointments were tried out at the Jorvi and Peijas emergency departments. These piloted eAppointments worked well.

The annual number of childbirths decreased to pre-coronavirus levels in 2022. We had 1,748 fewer deliveries than in the previous year. A total of 15,742 babies were born at HUS hospitals, of which 8,345 at the Women’s Hospital, 4,248 at Espoo Hospital, 1,970 at Hyvinkää Hospital and 1,179 at Lohja Hospital. 

Strike and staff shortage complicated surgical operations 

We performed 83,587 surgical procedures in the year under review. One third of these were emergency surgery. The number of surgical procedures was less than in the previous year. In April, the number of surgical procedures decreased significantly because of the nursing staff strike, and the general shortage of staff in the surgery units and wards restricted the number of operations throughout the year.  
 
There were 2,193 treatment periods in intensive care at the intensive care units at Meilahti and Jorvi Hospitals and at the trauma intensive care unit at Töölö Hospital. The average length of stay at an intensive care unit was 3.8 days; 80% of the treatment periods in intensive care were emergency care. Among intensive care patients, the intensive care mortality rate was 7.1% and the hospital mortality rate was 10.5%. The easing of the coronavirus pandemic was reflected in intensive care in the sense that only 11.5% of intensive care patients were patients with respiratory failure, as opposed to twice as many in 2021. 

We performed 371 organ transplantations, of which 21 on children. This figure is low compared to previous years, being partly caused by donor rejections due to positive coronavirus test results.  

More than 320,000 remote appointments 

There were 2.36 million booked appointments in all, of which 18.7% were remote appointments in 2022. In somatic medicine, the number of remote appointments increased by 13.4% on the previous year, with about 65,300 remote appointments; the figure for psychiatry was about 254,800.  

During the coronavirus pandemic, remote appointments became a regular thing at the pediatric clinic at Peijas Hospital.