Programme objectives and added value generated by the programme

The goals and objectives of the research programme will be set out by the steering committee appointed by the Academy’s Board and consisting of representatives of all funding bodies. Experts from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Association of Regional and Local Authorities, the Social Insurance Institution, hospital districts and key organisations within the health sector will be consulted in the course of preparing the programme.

The objectives of the programme shall be clearly and accurately specified so that the research programme can generate the added value it is expected to yield. These objectives will be extracted from the following problem areas:

• Alternatives to funding and producing health services from the point of view of the Finnish experience and international comparisons
• The customer orientation of health services and their impacts, effectiveness and equity
• The challenges presented by demographic trends to health services and funding
• The critical evaluation of health care technologies and the controlled introduction of new technology and information
• The perspectives of national personnel structures, personnel resources and job descriptions in health services
• The impacts of the internationalisation of health care services, commodities, labour power and funding markets upon health services and national health policy

The research programme also has development objectives relating to the research system:

• Increasing national and international funding cooperation and research cooperation
• Promoting the utilisation of research knowledge by creating good cooperation between the research programme, researchers and different actors within the health care system
• Improving the efficiency of researcher training in health services research and promoting networking

As regards the objective of promoting the use of research knowledge, the purpose will be to develop new ways of working that can also be applied in other research programmes. One specific objective with regard to the promotion of networking among researchers is to strengthen collaboration between research institutes and universities with a view to supporting researcher training as well as the utilisation of results. Research networks provide a way in which knowhow can systematically be increased in the field of health services research.