Mehiläinen Municipal Services to open Finland's first private psychiatric hospital for children in Hyvinkää

Peippo Hospital, Finland's first private psychiatric hospital for children, will open its doors in Hyvinkää on 28 May 2009. The hospital's patient capacity is eight and services are offered for children between 7 and 12 years of age. Mehiläinen's child welfare and child psychiatry operations are grouped together under the Leivoyhtiöt brand.

'The hospital mainly offers long-term child psychiatric care and rehabilitation periods but eight-week examination periods are also available. In Peippo we specialize in non-urgent child psychiatric treatment and a referral from specialized health care services is necessary for a patient to be admitted', says Timo Hukka, Executive Manager of Peippo Hospital. Headed by two child psychiatry specialists, our skilled staff form a strong multi-professional team. The hospital operates on a round-the-clock basis and we take every effort to ensure that the children's everyday life in the hospital is as home-like, well-balanced, and safe as possible', Hukka continues.

The hospital facilities went through a complete renovation before operations commenced. The hospital has its own school facilities and, in cooperation with the City of Hyvinkää Education and Culture Services, will provide education for those children who are unable to attend regular school.

'In terms of child psychiatry, there was clearly a social vacuum in Southern Finland that this hospital will be able to fill. The project was carried out in close cooperation with university hospitals and other partners', says Kari Niemi, Child Welfare Sector Manager of Mehiläinen Municipal Services. 'Peippo Hospital is the perfect addition to our existing service network in Southern Finland, where we, for instance, already operate two child welfare special units, the Peiponpesä in Hyvinkää and Kiljavan Majakka in Nurmijärvi. I am happy to say that with such an extensive range of services we will better be able to provide our municipal partners with comprehensive child and adolescent psychiatry services, says Niemi.

'Peippo Hospital is another concrete example of open and well-functioning co-operation between the private and public sectors. This goes to show that private service providers can and do complement the provision of public services', says Teemu Annala, Business Manager of Mehiläinen Municipal Services and goes on to say, 'Our flexible service production and wide customer base provide municipalities and hospital districts with high-quality services that are cost-efficient and tailor-made to suit their specific needs. Innovation and added value for the customer are key to our development work, and Peippo Hospital is the marvellous end result of this work. According to the feedback we have received, the hospital has already taken its place in the Finnish health care system.'

For further information, please contact

Timo Hukka, Executive Manager, tel. 040 558 1020
Kari Niemi, Sector Manager, tel. 044 332 2021