Patients in Finland waited longer to access treatment in primary healthcare during 2025, while waiting lists for specialised healthcare continued to fall, according to new figures released by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

The latest data points to a widening gap between the two parts of the healthcare system. While hospitals reduced long-term backlogs and treated more patients within recommended timeframes, access to doctors in local health centres became more difficult.

THL Chief Physician Sara Launio said the reduction in specialist waiting lists marked a significant improvement but warned that delays in primary care risk undermining the wider healthcare system.

“Access to a physician in primary health care is often a prerequisite for access to specialised health care,” Launio said. “If patients cannot see a doctor in time, the entire care pathway is delayed.”

The change follows a legislative amendment that came into force in 2025, extending the maximum waiting time for adults seeking treatment in primary healthcare from 14 days to three months.

Only 59 per cent of adults were able to see a doctor within two weeks during 2025, according to THL.

Young people under the age of 23 remain covered by a stricter legal requirement guaranteeing access to treatment within 14 days. Even so, the target was not achieved. In December 2025, 71 per cent of patients in that age group saw a physician within the required timeframe.

Nurse appointments remained widely available across all age groups and continued to meet access targets during the year.

While primary care struggled, specialist healthcare showed progress.

The proportion of patients waiting longer than six months for specialised treatment fell from 14.7 per cent to 12.7 per cent during 2025. The total number of patients on waiting lists dropped by almost 8,000.

THL said the figures suggested that healthcare providers had largely overcome the treatment backlogs that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic years.

Among patients requiring coronary angioplasty procedures, which are used to treat blocked arteries and reduce the risk of heart attacks, only 35 out of more than 3,000 patients waited longer than three months. No patient waited longer than six months.

Launio said the figures showed that urgent cases were being prioritised effectively.

“The difficult situation during the COVID-19 years has been overcome. For such procedures, access to care was good, demonstrating that the system is capable of prioritising the most urgent cases,” she said.

The largest remaining waiting lists were concentrated in non-urgent procedures linked to mobility and quality of life among older patients.

More than 10,000 people were waiting for hip or knee replacement surgery at the end of 2025. Around one quarter of those patients had waited longer than six months for treatment.

South Karelia and Central Ostrobothnia reported that all patients awaiting joint replacement surgery received treatment within six months.

Mental health services for young people also recorded improvements.

The number of patients under the age of 23 waiting longer than three months for specialised mental health treatment fell by 190 over the course of the year. THL said this represented a reduction of nine percentage points compared with the previous year.

HT