The effectiveness of legislation steering mental health services

The structure of mental health services has shifted more towards outpatient services, in accordance with the Mental Health Act, but this change has also brought new problems with it. Legislation concerning mental health services as a whole is a good example of the administrative and organizational fragmentation of social welfare and health care services. The audit examined whether legislation, different recommendations and financing steer the arranging of mental health services according to objectives and whether they promote cooperation among different actors. The data consisted of interviews with personnel who are involved in practical treatment work with mental health clients/patients as well as supervising authorities. This document contains a summary of the main results of the audit. The entire audit report is available only in Finnish.