In her presentation Kjersti Toppe (Centre Party),
deputy chairman of the Norwegian Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Healthcare Services, took
up the challenges but also opportunities that
will arise as the Norwegian population becomes
increasingly older. The government is working on
several levels to meet these new challenges. Work
is currently underway on a government white paper
about innovation in healthcare. "We must work on
both parts, focusing on welfare technology and
building more nursing homes," said Toppe.
From left: Deputy Mayor of Stjørdal Municipality Ole Hermod
Sandvik, CEO of Telenor Norway Berit Svendsen, Conservative
Party Healthcare Spokesperson Bent Høie, chief economist at
NyAnalyse Terje Strøm and Mayor of Kristiansand Municipality
Arvid Grundekjøn. Far right, Moderator Geir Helljesen.
held a ConferenCe Called "norwegian
healThCare Towards 2030 iniTiaTives
To meeT The age surge".
Toppe was followed by Bent Høie (Conservative
Party), chairman of the Norwegian Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Healthcare Services.
He chose to talk more about people and less
about technology. He pointed out that although
technology can never replace people it can provide
more caring hands where they are needed most.
Høie would prefer not to use the term "age surge".
"The fact that we have more elderly people is an
excellent result of our long-term efforts to build a
better society," Høie commented.
to put it to use
Next Kristin Skogen Lund, then Director of
Digital Services in the Telenor Group, presented
some examples of the successful use of welfare
technology in other countries, especially Scotland
and England. However, she also pointed out that
when it comes to using simple technology in the
healthcare sector Norwegian municipalities rank
among the best in Europe. "Now we need to move
from the pilot stage to a large-scale roll out of the
technology. We already have the foundations in
place to do it all," she emphasised.