NORTHERN LIGHTS: Seminar zooms in on eHealth in far outposts of Europe
Published: 22 April 2009
An international seminar on eHealth solutions to support health services across the northern periphery of Europe took place in Inverness in February. Universities from Scotland, Norway, Sweden and Finland are collaborating to share developments in information and communication technology (ICT), aiming to ensure equity of access to health care across remote and rural areas by focusing on primary care, long-term conditions and remote specialist services.
All four countries have remote, sparsely populated areas in their northern regions which can experience severe weather conditions during winter. All are faced with demographic problems of rising populations of older people and the challenges this will cause. However, there are differences in the way the health care services are provided. In Scandinavia, for example, services are split between health and council providers which causes issues for information sharing.
All countries brought examples of ICT supporting good practice
In Sweden, a speech and language therapist used a video-link to provide treatment in or near the patient's home, thus reducing travel costs greatly. The equipment was flexible and sensitive enough to support care, with 94 per cent of patients feeling they had "good contact" with the therapist.
In Finland, access to self-monitoring equipment at local health care facilities allows patients to carry out their own checks and view their personal health information and laboratory results. This has been found to promote self-care of long-term conditions.
In Norway, video-links between remote hospitals and specialists in university hospitals has meant that patients requiring renal dialysis can be treated closer to home. The links enable specialists to have remote consultations with patients, while staff at the remote hospital have the benefit of knowing that advice is available when needed. Specialists can monitor patients' results within an electronic patient record.
The project is running for three years, until December 2010, during which time each country will pilot a new service already in use in one of the other countries. The outcome will be four sustainable eHealth solutions, fully integrated into normal health provision, and a network of rural eHealth care.