English-language Varha app to launch on 1 April – expanding the reach of this optional digital service channel to even more clients

Southwest Finland is home to a significant number of people whose native language is neither Finnish nor Swedish, and so the English-language version of the Varha app will make it easier for them to find, contact and use various services in their daily lives.

-Our aim is for as many clients as possible to be able to find the right services and access these services digitally and with ease. The English-language app is a key step towards more accessible services, explains Program Director Tapio Järvenpää.

When a service is available in the English-language Varha app, this means that the client can also receive the service in English. The app's chat services and non-urgent messages are also available to clients in English, making it easier to get in touch with professionals. Translation of forms used less often is progressing in stages, so not all forms will be available immediately in the system.

Varha app developing rapidly

The Varha app already has over 160,000 registered users, making it a key channel for accessing the services of the Wellbeing Services County of Southwest Finland. Over spring and early summer 2026, a number of changes will be made to the app to make it easier to find and access services. Key focal points in development of the app have been ease of use, digital contact channels and a clearer user interface.

The option to send non-urgent messages will be added for outpatient health care services in the spring, allowing clients a direct line of contact with their own team of professionals at the health centre where they are being treated. The service will be available throughout the Varha region. Student healthcare appointment booking services are also set to be expanded in the app in spring 2026, to cover all students.

More and more appointments are being shown in the app, including those with maternity and child health clinics, contraception counselling, student healthcare, outpatient health care, substance abuse and mental health services, Tyks Laboratories[LS1]  and services to support functional capacity. Currently, appointment booking is available for services including maternity and child health clinics, laboratories, and seasonal vaccinations. The range of appointments shown in the app is set to grow even further, with specialised medical care appointments to be shown in the app from early 2027, following an overhaul of the patient records system.

During summer 2026, a wide-ranging interface overhaul will also be implemented in the app, the aim of which is to offer a clearer and more user friendly look. The overhaul will make it easier to find the right services and improve the user experience of the whole app.

More information about the Varha app: varha.fi/varha-app