Senior Line expands to serve entire wellbeing services county

Senior Line is a dedicated service number for assessing the care needs of people over 65 years of age. With Senior Line there are no selections to make. Instead, the call is answered by a healthcare professional who assesses the need for treatment, provides guidance and advice, as well as instructions for self-care.

– If the healthcare professional who answered the call is unable to take care of the caller’s issue immediately, they will forward the matter to the right service, where the caller will be contacted as soon as possible. We don’t connect the caller to a queue for another service, says head nurse Erja Lahti.

Lahti emphasises that Senior Line is specifically intended as a low-threshold contact channel for elderly people, which started to develop as a result of the feedback received from customers. Many elderly people had difficulty calling the Customer Service Centre, where the caller has to make selections.

During the summer, there have also been inquiries from neighbouring municipalities.

– The feedback on the service from customers in Vaasa and Laihia has been positive. During the spring and summer, we monitored the number of calls and were able to assess the need for staff. When expansion also became technically feasible, we decided to bring the service to the entire region as quickly as possible.

Senior Line belongs to the Customer Service Centre of the wellbeing services county and calls are answered by healthcare professionals from wellbeing services.

– We can even out congestion peaks in the Customer Service Centre by transferring more staff to the Senior Line when necessary and correspondingly to the customer service if needed there.

Call in the afternoon to avoid the rush

Monday morning is also the Senior Line’s busiest time.

– If it’s not an urgent matter, then it’s worth waiting until the afternoon. It’s always calmer then, advises Heidi Kangas, one of the professionals answering Senior Line calls at the wellbeing services county.

Often, customers need an assessment of their care needs, but many also ask about the results of laboratory tests or X-rays.

– But you can call regarding all matters related to health and wellbeing, as our threshold is kept low, encourages Kangas.

Seniors can still contact the Customer Service Centre if they need a care assessment, advice or an appointment with a doctor or nurse.