Deputy-Ombudsman criticises the delays in the Soteri register for their impacts on fundamental rights

Deputy-Ombudsman Maija Sakslin has issued her decision on 23 complaints criticising problems caused by the implementation of the national register of health and social service providers and units (Soteri). The complaints concerned the long processing times of registration applications at Valvira and the regional state administrative agencies, the provision of information by Valvira and the regional state administrative agencies, and the impacts that congestion in the register has had on health and social service providers and patients.

The Soteri register was introduced into use on 1 January 2024 when the new Act on the Supervision of Social Welfare and Healthcare entered into force. A health and social services provider must be registered in the Soteri register before it can start or change its operations.  
After the Act was approved, too little time was left for the development and implementation of the system and the system had to be deployed before work on it had been fully completed. Too little time was also left for training the personnel. This led to congestion in the processing of applications. 

The Deputy-Ombudsman considers that, because of the delay in processing applications, applicants’ fundamental right to have their matter processed appropriately and without undue delay has not been realised. As a result of the delay, the constitutional right to earn one’s livelihood by the employment, occupation or commercial activity of one's choice has not been realised, either.  The delays have caused considerable financial losses to service providers and made it more difficult for patients to access treatment.

The Deputy-Ombudsman considered it problematic that enough time had not been reserved for developing the system and providing training. On the other hand, the Deputy-Ombudsman also did not consider it acceptable that the development of the systems, the provision of instructions and training, and other preparation of the implementation would be started a very long time before the final content of the legislative proposal is confirmed.

The Deputy-Ombudsman emphasised that, after an act is approved, enough time must be reserved for its entry into force so that public administration will have an actual opportunity to implement the legislation immediately, starting from the entry into force of the act. When legislation is reformed, transitional arrangements and implementation schedules are not acceptable grounds for deviating from the fundamental and human rights requirements secured in the Constitution and international human rights treaties or postponing their realisation into the future.

In the Deputy-Ombudsman’s view, Valvira and the regional state administrative agencies had not, during the drafting of the act or during the parliamentary review of the government proposal, been able to anticipate that the time left for the implementation of the Act would be too short or that the processing of registration applications would be congested to this extent. The needs for additional resources required by the situation could therefore not be anticipated. 

To eliminate the congestion, Valvira and the regional state administrative agencies have taken a large number of measures, such as employing additional personnel and having personnel work overtime. In spite of these measures, the processing times of applications continue to be unreasonably long. The Deputy-Ombudsman considered the measures taken by Valvira and the regional state administrative agencies to be justified and in the right direction, but not sufficient, however. 

The Deputy-Ombudsman did not evaluate the actions of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in her decision.  The Deputy-Ombudsman has agreed with the Chancellor of Justice that the Chancellor of Justice will investigate the actions of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health especially with regard to legislative drafting. 
Parliament has more recently approved the legislative proposal on amending the Act on the Supervision of Social Welfare and Healthcare in order to alleviate congestion in registering. According to the amendment, it would be possible for small service providers to begin their operation as soon as they have submitted the registration application.

The full text of the Deputy-Ombudsman’s decision no 600/2024 has been published (in Finnish) on the website www.oikeusasiamies.fi.

Further information is available from Anne Ilkka, Senior Secretary to the Ombudsman, tel. +358 9 432 3346.