Health Ministry proposes cutting hospital services to meet budget pressures

The Social and Health Ministry presented its view to a parliamentary working group on the future of welfare regions, emphasizing the need for legislative overhaul to sustain constitutionally guaranteed health services under fiscal strain. It recommends easing the obligations of the new welfare regions and tightening legal guidance on cooperation and task division. The ministry proposes that resource-intensive, non-urgent surgeries and round-the-clock emergency support be merged into a smaller number of hospitals, arguing that quality and patient safety depend on sufficient patient volumes.

Core acute care, including internal medicine, neurology and geriatrics, would remain in all central hospitals, while only selected centres retain full-time surgical and anaesthetic capacity. A similar approach would apply to specialised social-care facilities, with the aim of freeing resources for essential acute services.