The Nordic countries are interested in developing digital and remote services for their elderly residents. In September, I participated, with the Finnish Kanta-Häme wellbeing services county, in a meeting of the iHAC network in Arendal, Norway– the very place that inspired the Frozen movies. The iHAC (Integrated Health and Care network)[1]
Norway promotes digital home monitoring for the elderly
Norway’s Agder region is one of the model areas for iHAC, where a functional ecosystem for integrating health and social services and adopting remote solutions has been successfully implemented. In Agder, for example, there is a preventive service and a self-care application for people with cardiovascular diseases, COPD, or diabetes. The application collects measurement data from the user’s Bluetooth devices, includes health status questionnaires, and offers the possibility to chat or video call a professional. Three professionals work at the Telemedicine center affiliated with the university and monitor patients’ conditions from their interface. The application prioritizes high-risk patients, and professionals can contact them. The software does not include AI or predictions. The mobile application is a separate service from home care but can be offered to the patient instead of home care.
In a randomized controlled trial, the application was not found to be effective over the period of one year and a half. The time was quite short to observe the results of prevention. Initial technology investments were also included in the costs. Currently, there are only 55 customers, although the service could easily scale up ten or a hundred times. The slow adoption was commented on as “municipalities operate like in syrup.” So, the digitalization of health and social services is not easy in Agder either.
Cameras increase nighttime safety in Norway and Sweden
In Norway and Sweden, cameras are used as part of the customer’s digital home monitoring, especially at night. The customer and a relative can agree with the service provider on the use of the camera. The wall-mounted camera does not record, and its digital image is destroyed, for example, after 10 seconds. The camera settings can be adjusted to make the image blurry or pixelated to protect privacy. The camera can be turned on once or several times a night, depending on what has been agreed upon. Remote monitoring via camera increases the customer’s nighttime safety without disturbing their sleep, and unnecessary staff check-ups and driving are reduced[1]. The Norwegian health authority also recommends offering digital services, such as locating safety watches, to people with dementia.
Finland develops and standardizes digital services for different customer needs
Four wellbeing services counties from Finland presented themselves at the iHAC meeting. Kanta-Häme is systematically standardizing the use of remote home care and medication dispensers in its area and is achieving its initial goal of 5% of home care visits being conducted remotely. Päijät-Häme is further along: they want to develop a unified model of remote and digital services delivered to homes for young people, people with disabilities, families with children, and mental health customers. They have created customer personas with empathetic storytelling and identified their needs, wishes, and conditions for using technology. In the model, technology is utilized even before becoming a social care customer.
The South Karelia region has been systematically working on remote services for the elderly for years. They have also developed customer personas and empathetic identification of service needs. Based on these, the “Etiäiset” concept has been created, where different actors offer the client well-being remote services through a common platform.
Åland and Lithuania are starting to adopt digital services
The health and social care system in Åland differs from the mainland areas of Finland. Municipalities are very independent, and the development of digital services is not coordinated internally in the area. However, Mariehamn and Lemland are developing digital home care services together, aiming to have half of the home care check-ups conducted remotely and to start digital group activities for home care customers by 2026.
Lithuanian participants reported that there is a need to integrate health and social services for elderly customers in the country. The cooperation between the ministries coordinating health and social services separately is not yet fully functional, which complicates the adoption of technology in services.
Nordic cooperation continues under the name Nexus
The iHAC funding ends in November, but the activities will continue under a new Nexus network platform for Nordic regions developing digital services. The first Nexus meeting is planned to be held in Aarhus, Denmark, in June 2025, in conjunction with the European Social Services ESSC conference. Its theme is aptly Transforming Social Services – Where Care Meets Tech[3].
Dr. Marketta Niemelä, Managing consultant, Nordic Healthcare Group
marketta.niemela@nhg.fi / p. +358 40 040 1777
[1] https://integratedhealthandcare.com/, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, has supported various countries in integrating health and social care services, adopting remote services, and sharing experiences and lessons learned.
[2] Andersson, Forsling & Berggren (2019). Healthcare and care through distance-spanning solutions – 24 practical examples from the Nordic region. https://nordicwelfare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/NWC-VOPD-EN-webb.pdf