Service: Welfare technology in health care (Norway)

Our Norwegian partners, Western Norway Research Institute (WNRI), are developing two services for health care applying our novel co-production methodology.

(From right to left) Ivar Petter Grøtte (WNRI) and Hilde G. Corneliussen (WNRI) with IMPROVE Local Champions Marta Strandos and Jan Olav Larse.

Cost benefit realisation course with Local Champions

Dialogue meeting with Local Champions and users.

IMPROVE Local Champion Bente Sundal showing one of the devices for the end users.

Their focus on developing these services with welfare technology has the objective of supporting end users and making them become more independent, while freeing time for health care workers. WNRI and the Local Champions have created a living lab in some municipalities of the region to test these services and improve them to make it more beneficial for all the stakeholders and able to be applied in a bigger scale.

The two services are:

1. Safety technology packages for sheltered housing and private homes

The safety technology package includes various sensors and alarms that will warn and notify the users, health care services or relatives when unforeseen and unwanted events happen. These events can be, for example:

a person falling (safety technology: fall-detection technology),
leaving her home (safety technology: GPS or motion-detection sensors),
leaving bed at night without returning (safety technology: sensor in bed) …

The main outcomes of this service are:

The increase of safety for the end user
It makes relatives less worried
It increases quality of care in terms of safety as well as independence for the end user.

2. Medicine support for private homes

It consists of a simple device – a medicine dispenser – that reminds the user with an alarm when it is time to take the medicine. Alternatively, if the user does not take the pills that the dispenser offers, an alarm can warn relatives or health care personnel.

The main outcomes of this service are:

This technology increases quality of health care and makes end users become more independent.
For health care workers, this means less visits, or alternatively, moving the visit to a less busy period of the day.

All the local champions have been part of several information and discussion meetings, they have participated in a cost benefit course and a course on technology integration for new welfare technology and legacy systems from the health sector.

Currently two municipalities, Gloppen and Jølster, are pilots for these services. At the end of the pilot, an exploitation plan will be developed, with advices for integration in health care services and diffusion to other municipalities in the region of Sogn og Fjordane.

If you are interested in this service and want more information, you can contact us by clicking here.