Developing and Implementing Multidisciplinary Service Packages and Pathways in the Finnish Wellbeing Services Counties

Integrated care for clients with complex needs requires structured approaches that support coordination across sectors, professions, and organisations. In Finland, the 2023 health and social care reform established wellbeing services counties and introduced a statutory requirement to organise services as multidisciplinary service packages and pathways.

This article examines the development and early implementation of multidisciplinary service packages and pathways in Finnish wellbeing services counties. A co-creation model for defining, steering, and monitoring service packages and pathways is used as an analytical framework. The study combines a national-level questionnaire (16 counties) with in-depth group interviews conducted in three counties focusing on services for neurodivergent children.

Development work was uneven and at early stages. Defining service packages and pathways helped clarify client groups, shared goals, and collaboration practices, but steering and monitoring systems remained weak. Key implementation challenges related to governance, professional cultures, data availability, and coordination across sectors.

Multidisciplinary service packages and pathways can support the planning and delivery of individualised service pathways, but only when embedded in management structures, supported by leadership, and linked to monitoring and learning mechanisms.

While shaped by Finland's reform context, the findings provide transferable insights into implementing integrated care through predefined service structures in other health and social care systems.