Health and welfare promotion negotiations, or HYTE negotiations, are held annually between the City of Helsinki and other HYTE operators. The annual negotiations are based on the existing Welfare Plan. By contrast, more extensive negotiations are held once every Council period of office for the creation of a new Welfare Plan. Helsinki held extensive HYTE negotiations in early 2025. HYTE negotiations between the City and the HUS Group will be held in September.
Welfare calls for prevention and accessible services
The HYTE negotiations focused on welfare-related themes and cooperation opportunities by age group in three different configurations. The main themes in the negotiations regarding children, young people, families with children and working-age residents were mental wellbeing, segregation and inequality, as well as healthy lifestyles. In addition to the aforementioned, the main themes regarding the elderly also included the role of elderly people as Helsinki residents.
The results of the negotiations show that there is a need to strengthen preventive and easily accessible services to support the wellbeing of different age groups. With regard to children and young people, the focus is on the role of safe adults, parenting support and reducing inequality in terms of aspects such as hobby opportunities and housing. The wellbeing of working-age residents is challenged by everyday stress factors, loneliness and rising costs of living, and with that in mind, low-threshold health and exercise services are seen as important. With regard to the elderly, the most significant challenges include loneliness, obstacles to everyday participation and digital exclusion.
“Our objective was to chart and form a unified view on key phenomena affecting wellbeing, health and safety – and we succeeded well. The workshop work was very fruitful and gave us valuable information for preparing the new Welfare Plan,” comments Wellbeing Promotion Manager Heidi Hagman from the City of Helsinki.
Shared understanding of the wellbeing of Helsinki residents through cooperation
The key objective of the HYTE negotiations is to strengthen cooperation between different operators. This year’s negotiations were attended by 91 representatives of the City’s cooperation partners and 37 members of City staff.
“The HYTE negotiations of Helsinki brought together a wide group of organisation operators, cooperation partners and stakeholders to discuss the wellbeing of Helsinki residents and related current phenomena. The City wants to maintain active and continuous dialogue with different operators, and the annual HYTE negotiations provide an excellent forum for that,” Hagman rejoices.
A memorandum report on the negotiations can be read at https://hyte.hel.fi/en/health-and-welfare-promotion-consultation/(Link leads to external service)
The objective of health and welfare promotion (HYTE) in Helsinki is to improve residents’ wellbeing, health and safety in everyday environments. HYTE negotiations are annual events at which welfare services counties, municipalities and other HYTE operators agree on the objectives, measures, cooperation, monitoring, operating models and information flow of health and welfare promotion in the area. According to Section 6 of the Act on Organising Healthcare and Social Welfare Services (612/2021), the negotiations must be held at least once a year.