Social and health care

This is what Folktinget does in social welfare and health care:

• monitors that language rights are adequately taken into account when legislation and new structures are prepared in social welfare and health care,
• prepares statements when language rights in social welfare and health care should be taken into account in legislative drafting and reform work,
• monitors how bilingual welfare areas realize language rights in their services and provides support if necessary,
• prepares letters and appeals to draw the attention of authorities to current issues of importance to language rights,
• provides information on language rights in social welfare and health care.

Folktinget has a social and health policy committee that:

• monitors access to social and health care in Swedish in Finland,
• monitors the interests of the Swedish-speaking population in the social and health care sector,
• monitors that linguistic rights are safeguarded in the drafting of legislation in the social and health care sector and participates in the preparation of statements,
• issues letters on social and health care issues affecting the Swedish-speaking population,
• cooperates with authorities and interest organizations on the application of linguistic rights in social and health care.

It is particularly important to receive services in one’s own language—and in the language one considers their emotional language—when one is ill or in a vulnerable situation. It is also a matter of patient safety and of avoiding misunderstandings or medical errors.