Patient Ombudsman, Patient ombudsperson and patient documents

Healthcare providers must have a Patient Ombudsman who can give information on patients’ rights and assist the patient in filing a complaint, an appeal or a claim for compensation. The Patient Ombudsman is not an employee of the Patient Insurance Centre or its representative.

The contact details of the Patient Ombudsman are available from the healthcare provider where you were treated. Social workers of healthcare providers will also provide information on patience insurance.

Patient ombudsperson

At the start of 2024, the title of the patient ombudsman was changed to ‘patient ombudsperson’.

The patient ombudspersons work in the areas of the wellbeing services counties and also handle the duties of the patient ombudsperson for the private healthcare sector. The Government organises the activities of patient ombudspersons in the Finnish Defence Forces, prisons and state mental hospitals.

In the future, the duties of patient ombudspersons include providing guidance on how to submit a compensation claim for a patient injury to the Patient Insurance Centre. The patient ombudspersons will no longer be required to provide support in submitting a notice of patient injury. 

The patient ombudspersons will also provide guidance on how to submit a complaint, a request for administrative review, an appeal, a claim for damages, a compensation claim on a pharmaceutical injury, or any other document pertaining to a matter related to the legal protection of a patient to the competent authority. In addition, patient ombudspersons will provide guidance and, if necessary, assistance with issuing reminders to healthcare.

Patient documents

In general, patients have the right to check the entries made in patient records and the right to demand that any erroneous information is rectified. If there are errors in your medical file that require rectification, contact the healthcare provider where your file was compiled.