Mikkeli Central Hospital to Undergo Major Modernization

The European Investment Bank (Luxemburg; EIB) has provided a long-term loan of € 55 million to the South Savo Social and Health Care Joint Authority to renovate and extend the Central Hospital campus in Mikkeli (Finland).

The campus, situated in the center of the 55,000 municipality, will undergo a renovation and extension designed to consolidate healthcare and social services by providing a single site that can respond effectively to the care needs of the ageing population of the region. Among the changes will be a better configured infrastructure, which is expected to reduce service costs through shorter hospitalization periods, reduced waiting times, and improved use of scarce resources. Modernization and replacement of outdated buildings will also improve hygiene and safety conditions.

The reforms will be implemented in five stages, and is due to be completed by 2020. The first stage will include the construction of new buildings with a gross area of approximately 19,000 m2, and renovation of about 23,000 m2 of existing buildings. The hospital’s outpatient facilities will be completed first, and will include the transfer of the Mikkeli city health center clinic into the outpatient area of the hospital campus, with a significant part of social services and primary healthcare integrated functionally with specialized healthcare.

The other stages of the programme will be implemented between 2017 and 2020, and will include new acute hospital services, a maternal and child health service facility and somatic wards, a dental clinic, and a mental health hospital. Construction of parking facilities began in April 2016, to be completed in the spring of 2017. The EIB loan will also finance the digitalization of healthcare services; and due to the reduced footprint and use of modern technologies and materials, the new, modernized buildings will actually reduce the overall size of the hospital premises by about 20%.

“The European Investment Bank is committed to supporting long-term investment that will increase the supply of healthcare services and improve access to healthcare; modernizing central hospitals is essential in order to secure a high level of healthcare provision and to keep costs under control,” said Jan Vapaavuori, vice-president of the EIB. “This programme will help to move Finland’s social and healthcare reform forward, and thus provide good practice and serve as a model to others.”

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