A social welfare services professional will process your client data using the information system at their disposal. Using the system, the professional has access to your client data that was recorded by different units belonging to the same service provider, such as a wellbeing services county.
If data recorded by other service providers, such as the social services of another wellbeing services county, is required in order to manage your affairs, it can be viewed in the Kanta services as necessary. This is possible if you have given your consent to patient data sharing.
The sharing of data between service providers will become possible as social welfare service providers make the necessary changes to the information systems. By giving your consent to data sharing now, you will ensure that social welfare professionals will have access to your data when data sharing becomes possible.
Data sharing between social welfare service providers will begin as social welfare service providers make the necessary changes to their information systems. According to current estimates, this will be possible from summer 2024.
Your consent to data sharing enables the transfer of your data between the professionals who provide your care
It is important that the social welfare professional handling your case has all the necessary information about your situation at their disposal. Allowing your client information to be shared between social service providers makes it easier and quicker to provide you with the appropriate care.
Once you have given your consent to data sharing, your data may be shared from Kanta, for example, between
- different wellbeing services counties
- public and private health care service providers.
A professional may only view your customer data if it is necessary in order to manage your affairs. In addition, the use of data requires an ongoing client relationship or other legitimate reason to process your affairs.
Consent to data sharing is given separately for health care patient data and social welfare client data. Giving your consent to data sharing is always voluntary.
Where can I give consent to data sharing?
You can give your consent to data sharing in MyKanta. You can give consent to data sharing once you have received the most recent information about the Kanta Services. You can see in MyKanta when and where you have given your consent to data sharing.
In the near future, you will also be able to give consent to data sharing when visiting social services, provided that the necessary changes to the information systems have been made. You can ask your service provider for further details of when this will be possible in their system.
If you are unable to give consent yourself, you can authorise another adult to give it on your behalf.
Once given, your consent to data sharing will remain valid until further notice. It will apply both to any information about you that was recorded before you gave consent, and to any information that will be recorded later.
When is consent to client data sharing in social services not needed?
In some situations, client data recorded in social services may be shared with another service provider even if you have not given consent for this.
Private social welfare services providing services in a wellbeing services county
If you access an independent service provider’s services using a voucher issued by a wellbeing services county, for example, or as an outsourced service, your consent to data sharing will not be required for the transfer of data between the wellbeing services county and the service provider in question.
Authorities’ statutory right to information
Social welfare authorities have the statutory right to obtain information when performing certain duties. This means that even if you have not consented to the sharing of your data or you have prohibited the sharing of your data, a social worker for the wellbeing services county has the right, for justified reasons, to obtain the necessary information, for example, in connection with an assessment of the need for services.
Withdrawing and restricting consent to data sharing
You may withdraw your consent to data sharing at any time in MyKanta. If you withdraw your consent, your data in the Kanta Services will no longer be shared with other service providers.
You can also limit the scope of your consent by setting separate denials of consent. Denials of consent allow you to determine which customer data you do not want to be utilised by other service providers that handle your affairs.
Acting on behalf of a minor and giving consent to data sharing in social services
A guardian can give consent to the sharing of their child's data in MyKanta if they have first received information about Kanta services on behalf of the child. If a guardian wishes to cancel a minor's consent to data sharing, it is only possible to do so in person with a social welfare professional. It is not possible to withdraw a minor's consent to data sharing in MyKanta.
A person entitled to information may be, for example, the child's next-of-kin, who has the right to view the child's data. Guardians do not have the right to make decisions in the minor’s affairs. They cannot decide on the child’s behalf whether to consent to data sharing or to set up a denial of consent to data sharing.
A minor who has been assessed by a social welfare professional as having the capacity to decide on the sharing of his or her data may give and withdraw consent to data sharing when they visit a service provider.
For more information on acting on behalf of a minor, please read the page Acting on behalf of a minor.
Acting on behalf of another adult and giving consent to data sharing in social services
In MyKanta, it is possible to act on behalf of another adult with an electronic authorisation from Suomi.fi. An authorised person can give and withdraw consent to data sharing in MyKanta.
The authoriser's information shows the name of the person who has accessed the data on their behalf.