Oak Hospital opens in May
Keywords:HUS Oak Hospital focusing on the treatment of eye diseases opens in Meilahti, Helsinki on May 12, 2025. Oak Hospital will improve the capacity to respond to the increasing need for ophthalmological treatment.
Oak Hospital will bring the ophthalmological units, currently operating in various locations around Helsinki, under one roof. Centralizing the expertise in ophthalmology under one roof promotes cooperation, exchange of information and the development of shared care practices.
Oak Hospital is responsible for public specialized healthcare in ophthalmology in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The treatment of serious and rare eye diseases in Finland has also been centralized to the hospital.
Oak Hospital will serve approximately 1,000 patients every day. The hospital's new, adaptable facilities provide better conditions for effective treatment of eye diseases and the capability to respond to the increasing need for treatment.
“The larger facilities enable us to shorten the waiting lists for surgery and treatment. The appointment facilities have been designed to enable us to utilise the model of joint appointments with a doctor, nurse and optician. This model has been developed by us, and it has enabled our physicians to see 50–100% more patients per day,” says Chief Physician Jukka Moilanen, Head of HUS Eye Diseases.
Oak Hospital has more than 200 appointment rooms, 15 operating rooms, 19 procedure and injection rooms, an inpatient ward with 12 beds and a medical equipment maintenance unit of its own. The hospital has training facilities and an operating room for teaching purposes.
Special needs of patients with a poor vision have been taken into account in Oak Hospital
Observations of what an accessible hospital is like were received from experts by experience with limited vision and from a client panel and used in the planning of Oak Hospital. Everyone using the hospital will benefit from the clear and accessible routes, color contrasts, lighting and anti-glare features.
“The starting point in the planning has been to create an environment that serves the patient’s needs and supports the work carried out by the staff. This creates the preconditions for a smooth hospital visit and a good patient experience,” explains Jari Pekola, an expert by experience at the Head and Neck Center.
In Oak Hospital, features helping patients with poor vision include a tactile map, signposts written in Braille in the elevator lobbies, as well as tactile pavement in the outdoor area and raised markings on the floor for users of a white cane. The smart sound beacons by the hospital entrances, in the elevator lobby of the underground car park and near the elevators help to navigate the hospital.
The number of ophthalmological patients has doubled
Age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and cataract, which are the most common eye diseases among people aged over 65, account for almost two thirds of all specialised healthcare provided in ophthalmology.
“With the ageing of the population, the number of patients with eye diseases has doubled in the past ten years. Twenty per cent of all surgeries at HUS are eye surgeries. When people live longer, more and more of them will be patients at Eye Diseases,” Moilanen says.
