Finns give a poor grade to the Finnish healthcare system, according to an opinion poll conducted for the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA.
Just under a third of respondents (31 percent) said that the system works well, and more than half (54 percent) said it was poor in EVA's attitudes and values survey.
EVA says that dissatisfaction is evident consistently across different demographic groups, but those in poor health were the most critical.
People were especially dissatisfied with the difficulty in getting access to treatment: some 58 percent said that it took too long to get an appointment at public health centres, and nearly two-thirds (63 percent) said queues to access hospital treatment were too long.
Respondents also saw inequalities in access to healthcare. Just over a third (35 percent) said access to healthcare was equal.
The poll again saw support for a so-called "freedom of choice" model in healthcare, in which patients could choose between public sector and private sector providers, with the public sector footing the bill.
Some 52 percent of respondents regarded that as a desirable model, with 28 percent either strongly or partially disagreeing.
Those figures suggest a weakening of support since the last survey in 2021, however. In that previous survey, 54 percent of respondents supported the model and 25 percent opposed it.
The poll was based on answers from 2,070 people aged between 18 and 79, with the poll conducted in March.
Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Yle News' All Points North podcast asked what's happened to the country's public healthcare system.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.
