Data sharing between social welfare and healthcare with the help of the Kanta services will be possible by 1 March 2027. From then on, social welfare and healthcare service providers must be able to view and store relevant consents to data sharing given by clients to Kanta.
The sharing of data is governed by shared operating models. Learn the data sharing practices in our online school.
Consent to data sharing between social welfare and healthcare
When serving a client, you can use data from the other sector, i.e. social welfare services client data in healthcare and patient data in social welfare, when the client has given consent to data sharing for this purpose. The types of consent to data sharing are the following:
- consent to sharing patient data with social welfare
- consent to sharing social welfare services client data with healthcare.
The client can give consent to data sharing when they have received the information about the Kanta services.
In addition, you must always have the right to access the data concerned and justified grounds for using them. Justified grounds include a care or client relationship, for example.
Please note that different types of consent to data sharing are used for data sharing between social welfare and healthcare than for data sharing within the same sector, such as the sharing of patient data in healthcare services.
- Read more about the sharing of patient data in healthcare.
- Read more about the sharing of social welfare services client data between social welfare service providers.
The consents to data sharing stored in Kanta concern the sharing of data both through Kanta and in other ways, such as in the organisation's own systems or on paper.
Consent to data sharing can be allocated
With consent to data sharing between social welfare and healthcare, the client may give the permission to disclose all of their client or patient data or restrict their consent to apply only to specific service providers, specific data or a specific time period. Unlike data sharing within a sector, data sharing between sectors cannot be restricted with denials of consent to sharing data.
Allocating consent to data sharing to sharing patient data with social welfare
The client may allocate their consent to sharing their patient data with social welfare services
- on a service provider -specific basis, which means that the client can give consent to sharing their patient data
- with the social welfare services organised by all wellbeing services counties and the City of Helsinki
- with a specific state social welfare unit
- with a specific private social welfare service provider and other service providers operating in connection with it
- for specific data, such as
- patient summaries consisting of key patient information
- all entries recorded about service events
- statements or certificates drawn up for other authorities
- for patient data recorded during a specific time period.
Consent to sharing patient data with social welfare services also applies to prescription information. With the introduction of the Kanta medication list, social welfare service providers will be able to retrieve prescription data from Kanta as from 1 November 2027 if the necessary changes have been made to the client information system used by the service provider.
Allocation of consent to sharing social welfare services client data with healthcare
The client may allocate consent to sharing their social welfare services client data with healthcare
- on a service provider -specific basis, in which case the client can give consent to sharing their data
- with healthcare services provided by all wellbeing services counties, the City of Helsinki and the HUS Group
- with a specific state healthcare unit or the healthcare services of the Finnish Defence Forces
- with a specific private healthcare service provider and other service providers operating in connection with it
- for the service tasks of their choice, such as for data on services for families with children or older people
- for client data recorded during a certain time period.
When is consent to data sharing not required?
In some situations, it is possible to share client and patient data even if the client has not given consent to sharing them. These include the following situations:
The service is produced jointly by social welfare and healthcare
When a client’s service is delivered as a joint social welfare and healthcare service and at a joint service point, the professionals participating in the service have the right to access and use the client data necessary for providing the service. In this case, consent to data sharing is not required for processing data from the other sector.
The client is unable to decide on giving consent to data sharing
In social welfare and healthcare, the client’s data that is essential for providing the service may be used if the client is unable to assess the significance of giving consent because of a memory disorder, mental disorder, disability or a similar reason and does not have a legal representative. Necessary information is what the service provider needs in order to organise or deliver the service or care.
Social welfare authorities have an extensive right to access information
Social welfare authorities have the right to obtain the patient information that is necessary for determining the client’s need for social welfare services and for organising the services. For example, this applies to a situation in which a social worker in a wellbeing services county assesses the client’s need for social welfare services. The right to access patient information also applies to a situation in which information given to the authority has to be checked. In these situations, the social welfare authority receives the necessary data without consent to data sharing.
How to store client’s consent to data sharing
Your client can give both types of consent to data sharing in MyKanta or when visiting social welfare and healthcare services. Social welfare and healthcare service providers must be able to process both types of consent from 1 March 2027 at the latest if the client requests it.
When you save a client's consent to data sharing, record the consent in the information system you use, from where it will be stored to Kanta. Print a copy of the consent to data sharing for the client if the client requests it. The printout does not need to be signed or archived.
Frequently asked questions about data sharing between social welfare and healthcare
For a healthcare worker to be able to use the information recorded in social services and vice versa, the client must have given consent to sharing the data concerned.
When you retrieve client or patient data from Kanta, Kanta automatically takes into account the consent given by the client. The consent stored in Kanta must also be taken into account if the data is shared by means other than by using Kanta.
Retrieving data from Kanta with the client or patient information system you use is possible only if the necessary technical changes have been made to the system. Each service provider can decide how the utilisation of data between sectors will be implemented in the information systems used and what the timetable for it will be. Organisations must also provide their employees with instructions for their own operating models. If necessary, ask your organisation about this.
No, they do not because the denials of consent to sharing patient data set by the client do not affect the data sharing between social welfare and healthcare.
For example, if a client has set a denial of consent to sharing their patient data from the patient register of a specific wellbeing services county, the data will not be disclosed from one service provider to another in healthcare services. However, if necessary, the data will be shared with a social welfare service provider if the client has granted consent to sharing their patient data with social welfare services.
Read more about consent and denial of consent to sharing patient data.
No, they do not because the denials of consent to sharing social welfare services client data set by the client do not affect the sharing of data between social welfare and healthcare.
For example, if a client has restricted the sharing of client data in the client register of the social welfare services of a certain wellbeing services county, the data in question will not be disclosed from one social welfare service provider to another. However, the data can be disclosed to healthcare if the client has given consent to sharing their social welfare services client data with healthcare.
Read more about consent and denial of consent to sharing social welfare services client data.
The client’s data is not transferred from social welfare to healthcare or vice versa if the client has not given consent to data sharing or the client allocates their consent only to specific data that may be disclosed from one sector to the other.
It should be noted that in some situations, consent to data sharing is not taken into account if the social welfare or healthcare service provider has a statutory right to access data, which does not depend on consent.
A minor may give consent to data sharing between social welfare and healthcare when visiting a service provider if the professional considers the minor to be capable of deciding on the use of their data. In addition, consent to data sharing requires that the minor has received the information about the Kanta services.
Yes. A guardian who has been informed about the Kanta services on behalf of a minor may give consent to data sharing between sectors in My Kanta, and this consent applies to all data and all service providers. If the guardian wishes to allocate the consent to data sharing, for example, to information on a specific service task or restrict it to apply to a specific period of time, this must be done by visiting the service provider. In addition, the withdrawal of consent concerning the minor’s data must always be carried out by visiting the service provider.
When the client’s service is produced jointly by social welfare and healthcare services and takes place at a joint service point, the professionals participating in the service have the right to access and use the client data necessary for providing the service. In this case, you do not need consent to data sharing for data of the same controller but from the other sector, such as the data stored in the social welfare or healthcare services organised by the same wellbeing services county.
A service provider with main responsibility refers to a private social welfare or healthcare service provider, in connection with which other service providers may also be operating. The service provider with main responsibility has joined the Kanta services through the client or patient information system it uses.
Private social welfare and/or healthcare actors must notify the service provider with main responsibility to THL's Code service. The information is used to share client and patient data between the sectors. You can use this form (webpropol)(opens new window) to report the information.
A service provider that stores information in Kanta using the information system of the service provider with main responsibility does not need to register as a service provider with main responsibility (a so-called joint connection model). For example, at medical centres, a number of other companies or private entrepreneurs often operate in connection with the service provider with main responsibility.