Locality in Public-Private Partnership in Social and Health Care Sector: Case Study

• Main Authors: Martti Saarela, Eija-Riitta Niinikoski, Matti Muhos
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://www.toknowpress.net/ISBN/978-961-6914-13-0/papers/ML15-171.pdf; http://www.toknowpress.net/ISBN/978-961-6914-13-0/MakeLearn2015.pdf

According to Finnish law, a municipality’s task is to produce social and health care services for residents. The municipality or joint municipal authorities (JMA) can also acquire services from private service providers. The first aim of this study is to describe the operating environment of public-private partnership with respect to public procurement in the health and social care sector in a Finnish context. The second aim is to explore how locality features in the service purchasing and public procurements of a health and social care JMA located in a northern sparsely populated area. This is an ongoing retrospective single-case study focusing on the JMA and local enterprises in the health and social care sector in Northern Finland. The study uses databanks of service purchase contracts for data collection, to analyse aspects of locality in public-private partnerships via data concerning service purchasing. As a result of this study, the operating environment of public-private partnerships concerning public procurement in the health and social care sector in Finland is clarified. Locality in service purchasing is clarified in the context of health and social services, including core and support services. Results increase the understanding of locality in the public-private partnership. public-private partnership, public procurement, SME, locality, entrepreneurship, health and social care