South Savo community of municipalities for social and health services among the first involved:
Finland first in the world to enable acting on behalf of another person electronically in social and health matters

Finland is the first in the world to introduce the possibility for an adult to electronically authorise another person to transact business in social and health care matters. Acting on behalf of another person requires an electronic authorization for health care on the Suomi.fi online service. South Savo community of municipalities for social and health services (ESSOTE) is the first organisation in which this is possible.

"Finland is a pioneer in this matter. We are not aware of any other place in the world where and adult could authorize another person to operate on their behalf in social and health care matters", says Matti Hiltunen programme manager at the Finnish Population Register Centre. The Population Register Centre is responsible for the Suomi.fi digital services and the e-Authorizations service.

On the Suomi.fi digital service it is also possible to give the authorisation to act on behalf of another person or organisation in several other services of public administration, and the possibilities for authorization will expand later.

Soon available to a million Finns

The e-Authorisation that is made on the Suomi.fi service now enables transactions on behalf of an adult on the ESSOTE e-services. In the first stage, the service involves booking a time, but the service is gradually expanding to other Essote services as well, and to My Kanta, among others.

"This makes it easier especially for those handling matters on behalf of aged next of kin, and the everyday lives of caregivers, when health care appointments can be made on line on behalf of another person", says  Anna-Elina Ukkonen, Project Manager of ESSOTE's PUOLA project, which has promoted e-Authorisation. ESSOTEis offering social and health services in seven municipalities in the Mikkeli region to about 80,000 residents. In addition, Pieksämäki and Joroinen are also part of the community of municipalities in matters of specialised health care.

Doing business on behalf of another adult is becoming a possibility for about a million Finns, as the Hyvis portal is used for the e-services of ESSOTE. The same portal is also in use in East Savo, South Karelia, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Kymenlaakso, and Päijät-Häme. The possibility to transact business on behalf of another adult will be introduced next in the virtu.fi service Oulu, Raahe, and in the virtu.fi service of the Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare of Northern Finland.

How do I give an Authorization?

An electronic authorization is established in the Suomi.fi digital service in the e-Authorizations section of www.suomi.fi.

The person giving the authorization logs on to the service with his or her online banking credentials, mobile certificate, or electronic ID card. After the authorization has been made, the person who is authorized can operate in the service on behalf of the other person by logging on to the service with his or her identification devices. A fixed term is set for the authorization and it can take effect with immediate effect, if needed.

This means that the person giving the authorization needs some of digital skills at this point. In the future, an electronic authorization will be possible without electronic identification, as the Suomi.fi authorization will soon include the possibility of creating a proxy that works in a digital system also at a service point with the help of a functionary.

Further information

Finnish Population Register Centre, programme manager Matti Hiltunen, tel. +358 29 553 5013, firstname.lastname[at]vrk.fi

PUOLA project, Project Manager Anna-Elina Ukkonen, tel. +358 40 359 7073, firstname.lastname[at]essote.fi

National Institute for Health and Welfare, Project Manager Jari Suhonen, tel. +358 29 524 7416, firstname.lastname[at]thl.fi

Acting on behalf of another person based on the authorization register of he Hyvis  service platform  has been developed in the PUOLA project administered by ESSOTE and funded by the National Institute for Health and Welfare. The solutions built in the project, which utilise Suomi.fi  services significantly help electronic transactions in areas using the Hyvis service platform. Previously in the same project, transactions by a guardian  on behalf of a child under the age of 10 have been made possible in the appointment booking service and a one-time log-on solution has been created in the ESSOTE electronic visiting service in  My Kanta.

Collaborative partners in the project are Hyvis-ICT Oy, the National Institute for welfare and Health, the Population Register Centre, the National Architecture for Digital Services programme, the Kanta services of Kela, the Mikkeli region and nearby Caregivers Association, and the municipalities of the ESSOTE area.

See the video on granting authorisation in the  Suomi.fi-portal

See the video on acting on behalf of another adult