The North Estonia Medical Centre is a top hospital in Estonia, whose core values are dedication and professionalism, caring attitude and responsibility, and openness and cooperativeness. We are Estonia’s leading healthcare institution and a leader in innovation in the healthcare sector. The medical centre group employs almost 5,000 people – our team includes doctors, nurses, caregivers, and specialists. We have more than 500 doctors and, in addition to them, more than a hundred resident doctors constantly practice at the medical centre.
The medical centre consists of seven clinics with 32 specialist centres. Like European university hospitals, the medical centre provides treatment in all medical specialities except paediatrics and obstetrics. The medical centre has the largest cancer treatment, trauma, heart and psychiatric centre. In 2019, we provided assistance to 144,000 patients. The medical centre provides medical care of the highest level of medical complexity and, depending on the patient’s health problem, of simpler medical complexity to all insured persons, mainly from Tallinn and Harju County and from Central, Western, and Northern Estonia. Emergency care is provided to all those in need.
We want to offer every patient the best quality of treatment and the greatest satisfaction with the treatment service. As the first hospital in Estonia, we passed the preliminary audit of the Joint Commission International, which gave a good assessment of our activities so far and recommendations for the future. In order to continuously improve the quality of medical services, a patient council, treatment quality, and trauma committee has been formed in the medical centre.
The main service area is Tallinn (approximately 50% of patients), Harju County (approximately 20% of patients), and mainly the counties of Central, Western, and Eastern Estonia, but we also help patients from Southern Estonia. The medical centre provides ambulance services in Harju County, Rapla County, Hiiumaa, Lääne County, and the small islands of Estonia, and basic life support ambulance service in Northern Estonia.
The group of the medical centre includes SA Läänemaa Haigla, SA Hiiumaa Haigla, and SA Raplamaa Haigla, which are general hospitals and mainly serve patients in the respective counties. In 2017, a framework partnership agreement was signed with Rakvere Hospital and in 2018, with Järva County Hospital. In addition, cooperation agreements have been concluded earlier with Pärnu Hospital in the fields of chemotherapy and haematology with the aim of offering cancer patients home-based treatment in cooperation with the cancer treatment centre of the medical centre.
The North Estonia Medical Centre was established on 25 July 2001 by a decision of the Government of the Republic on the basis of Mustamäe Hospital, Kivimäe Hospital, Estonian Oncology Centre, Tallinn Psychiatric Hospital, Tallinn Hospital of Skin Diseases, Arstlik Perenõuandla, and the Occupational Diseases Clinic.
Mission: we invest in people’s health.
We have been created to bring value by giving our contribution to preserving patients’ quality of life and growth via medical treatment and preventive action, as well as being a trainer and designer of health policy.
We act in the patient’s (and society’s) interests and always try to achieve the best possible treatment result for each patient. To achieve the best results, we choose methods that have been recognized as evidence-based and work together with the patient and their loved-ones, as well as with different-level health care providers and social service providers.
On average, the Medical Centre`s medical cases are the most complicated in Estonia, the Case Mix Index is 1,6. The regional hospital is a competence centre: our role is to be the centre of reference information and know-how and the centre of health care network in North and West Estonia. There are specialties where we are the only health centre in Estonia.
The Medical Centre is a teaching hospital whose activity profile is inherent to a university hospital, and it provides specialised medical care in almost all medical specialities. In addition, independent nursing care is provided as stationary nursing care and also, in more and more medical specialities, as independent nurse appointments. In the hospital, University of Tartu residents gain professional knowledge and skills every year and many undergraduates from different universities and specialities have their practice, including VI course medical training undergraduates, who need high-level instructing. The Medical Center is also a recognised in-service training provider on many fields in the Middle and Eastern Europe. Hospital’s staff actively does professional research work with universities and joint development centres.
Vision: to be a recognized and innovative medical centre, a pioneer in Estonian health care.
According to vision, when it comes to complexity of medical cases and treatment and diagnostic technologies that are used here, the Medical Center is comparable with Europe’s university hospitals. In our work, we use evidence-based methods and our action is based on interdisciplinary and good teamwork, we are open to innovation. The qualitative level of medical work expresses in outstanding efficiency indicators and quality indicators that are comparable with other recognized medical centres, also in good treatment results.
Our basic values:
- dedication and professionalism
- caring attitude and responsibility
- openness and cooperativeness
Dedication and professionalism
We are always focusing on the patient, take every patient’s problems seriously and are always ready to give our best, regardless of how complex the patient’s health condition is, based on a patient’s age, gender, religion, nationality, social situation or other factors. We are constantly improving ourselves to keep ourselves informed about the newest technologies, diagnostic and treatment methods and offer patient the best help possible.
Caring attitude and responsibility
We think a caring attitude is important in the approach towards patients, colleagues and ourselves. We listen to the patient and try to give him the necessary help in a way that is the best for him. We are ensuring that the patient understands his health condition and possibilities. When planning the treatment setting, we more actively involve the patient as well.
We support our colleagues and react in situations where there have been shortcomings in the help given to the patient. We respect our colleagues’ work and even the employees who are not directly involved in the patient’s treatment are giving their best to create as favorable conditions as possible for the treatment activity.
We are taking into account that as employees of Estonia’s top hospital, our words and actions have great importance for the patient and for the public as well. Every one of us represents the Medical Center. We use the treatment resources rationally and in the most useful way to the patient and society. We act according to the principle to increase the positive effects of our activity, and reduce the negative effects.
Openness and cooperativeness
In the name of the patient’s better treatment plan, we work together with the patient’s loved-ones and with different-level health care providers and social service providers.
To keep up with the times, we are ready to carry out changes in the methods used in our work. In our cooperation with all specialists we are able to find and achieve solutions that would be out of reach when acting alone.