Päivi Räsänen wants all citizens to have right to palliative care

National instructions and recommendations for palliative care cannot guarantee the right to high-quality hospice care for everyone, Räsänen argues. Therefore, she thinks it is necessary to introduce government measures that ensure palliative care for everyone. Currently, the Finnish government has not drafted any bills on palliative care, the website of the Christian Democratic Party reads. As a result, says Räsänen, the quality of palliative care depends on the municipality.

A report about hospice care from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health recommended in the summer of 2021 that changes in legislation were needed to ensure that all Finnish citizens have good access to palliative care. "By regulating the patient's right to hospice care by law, it can be guaranteed that everyone has the right protected by law to receive effective symptom treatment, Räsänen explains her motivation for the legal initiative she submitted.

She proposes the addition of a new article to the Act on the Status and Rights of the Patient. That new section should establish the right for a patient with progressive, incurable disease to receive hospice care in a specialised treatment unit.

Räsänen advocates integrating palliative and hospice care into the social and health care service system. Therefore, better cooperation between different providers is necessary. Also, palliative care should be brought closer to the patient's home and thus be provided by housing service units, for example. In addition, education is necessary to give people the skills to provide palliative care, Räsänen emphasises. "The national goal is that elderly people can live at home and receive the services and care they need until the end of their lives at their place of residence." Every year, about 30,000 Fins need palliative care.