in content lists or on the content page.In Vaasa, customers are served with on-line communication tools in addition to traditional call-centre services. New practices and technologies free up resources for actual care activities. Customers are happy with the services they are getting.
In collaboration with the City of Vaasa, Sitra launched a programme for the development of call-centre services in dental health care in 2005. The newly completed follow-up study on the second stage of the project, entitled “On-line services and call centre services in oral health care in Vaasa”, analyses the implementation of on-line and call-centre services and their effects on operational processes in oral health care – particularly through staff perspectives, customer satisfaction and expenditure. The study results show that changes in the ways of dealing with phone traffic have changed the operational models used and the focus of phone traffic in dental health care units.
The project also led to operational changes. The number of patient visits has increased on average by 7 percent from 2005 to 2007, while the number of cases treated has increased by approximately 17 percent The increase in cases treated has, for its part, led to better accessibility to oral health care services. Moreover, the staff feel that as a result their work has become more rewarding.
At the beginning of the project (2005–2006), the call-centre services in oral health care and the evaluation of treatment need in Vaasa was outsourced. In the second stage (2007), on-line services for oral health care were developed. A so-called multi-channel service was added to call-centre services, providing an opportunity to be in contact with the Contact Centre through both the Internet and SMS.
– The project gave us a great deal of information on the viability of the method, as well as, for the first time, information on the quantitative development of on-line contacts in oral health care. Feedback from customers has encouraged us to further develop the on-line services; approximately 90% of respondents said that the accessibility to phone advice is now very easy or easy, says Jukka Kentala, Director of dental health care in the City of Vaasa.
– Customers benefit from the opportunity to use on-line services around the clock. Despite this, the majority of the use of on-line services takes place in the morning and during the day. It’s now our task to further develop the on-line services and disseminate more information about them in order to make them more widely used, says Kentala.
Demand for public dental health care on the rise
The overall demand for dental health care is increasing in Finland due to the ageing population and the decrease in the number of people who have lost their teeth. Furthermore, the demand for public dental health care is increased by the disparity in the deductibility of public and private dental healthcare costs. There is also a shortage of dentists. Queues can be shortened by making the use of facilities more effective, outsourcing, service purchases and service vouchers.
– The supply and demand of dental health care must be brought into balance and to the level required in the legislation. The development of on-line services provides units with opportunities to expedite and facilitate their operations. The activities are made more effective when dentists have more time to work with customers, there are fewer cancellations and cancelled appointments can be quickly filled. In the future, we will also require a complete integration of on-line ICT services, says Matti Pöyry from the Finnish Dental Association.
-There is great demand for developing on-line health services in Finland. Sitra’s Health Care Programme embarked enthusiastically in the oral health care development project in Vaasa in 2005. The cooperation has continued and the authors of the study, Professor Pirkko Vartiainen and Senior Assistant Seija Ollila from the University of Vaasa and Director of dental health care Jukka Kentala from the City of Vaasa have provided us with important information on the effects on-line services have on oral health care, not only in Vaasa but in general. Furthermore, it is great to see how the development of on-line services takes the customer into account and the usability of the services has been ensured specifically from the perspective of citizens, says Business Director Ilmo Parvinen from Sitra’s Health Care Programme.
– When contemplating whether we should educate and recruit 20% more dentists and dental assistants or move on to flexible on-line phone services which change processes and improve accessibility and satisfaction, there is no doubt that the latter is the way to go, concludes Parvinen.
* The study (in Finnish):
Pirkko Vartiainen, Seija Ollila ja Jukka Kentala Sähköinen asiointi ja puhelinpalvelu Vaasan suun terveydenhuollossa. Arviointi projektin toiminnasta ja vaikutuksista. (‘On-line services and call centre services in oral health care in Vaasa. Evaluation of the project activities and effects.’)
Helsinki, Sitra, 2008. ISBN 978-951-563-627-0.
Further information
Research
Adjunct Professor Pirkko Vartiainen, University of Vaasa, tel. +358 6 324 8411, firstname.lastname@uwasa.fi
Director of dental health care Jukka Kentala, Social and Health Services, City of Vaasa, tel. +358 40 516 2118.
Sitra