The research programme Finnish Local Government 2004 was a joint programme launched by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, universities and research centres. It was funded by Finnish municipalities and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. The project engaged in a systematic and comparable analysis of the development of the municipal sector in 1995-2004. The 47 municipalities participating in the programme were representative of the Finnish local government sector.
The study programme comprised of 14 research modules. For most modules, data were collected through mail surveys. The data may be used for cross-sectional or time series analysis.
The survey focused on primary health care in Finland, how Finnish municipalities organise, produce and manage the services, what kind of changes have been made, and what are the strategies for the future. This survey was aimed at municipalities which organise health services in co-operation with other municipalities, through joint authority. Similar surveys were conducted in 1997 and 2000.
Questions covered primary health care service provision, and purchasing and competitive tendering of services. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements pertaining to health care resources and facilities, and the joint authority. One topic pertained to what kind of specialist health care services the joint authority provided, and how such services were organised. Health care development strategies and plans were studied. Further questions covered the use of family doctor system, use of client satisfaction surveys, dental care, division of tasks between doctors and nurses, and the role of the municipal committee responsible for health services.
Two-stage stratified sampling in selecting project municipalities.
The project municipalities were selected separately from those with less than 10,000 inhabitants (28 municipalities) and from those with more than 10,000 inhabitants (19 municipalities). The selection aimed to be representative within both groups in relation to all municipalities with the same population size. Large municipalities were over-represented because 70% of the Finnish population lives in large municipalities. Representativeness criteria included regional location, age and education of the population, industry structure, municipal economy parameters, political situation and variables related to municipal policy. The selected municipalities form a small scale model of all Finnish municipalities. The Åland Islands municipalities were excluded because of special features resulting from Åland's autonomy.
The questionnaire was sent to the heads of health services in municipalities which organise their primary health services in co-operation with other municipalities (N=22). 19 municipalities responded.