IT solutions can boost Swedish welfare

Debate article in Dagens Samhälle: Swedish health care is of a high standard medically, but recently we have seen shortcomings when it comes to personal care. With the help of new technology, health and care workers can have more time for personal meetings with patients.

Population trends indicate that elderly care in Sweden may need to be expanded by more than 70% over the next 30 years. The demographic trend, and the fact that fewer people will have to support more in the future, will place greater demands on the quality of welfare systems. To cope with this, we must increase the use of IT in health, education and care. There is great potential: social alarms, video connection to the health center, internet connection and telephony or the possibility to plug in medical equipment that sends test results to the health center. In other cases, medical appointments can be prepared via video calls between the patient and the nurse. With the right efforts, it is possible to diagnose and treat more illnesses remotely, which in our vast, sprawling country can dramatically change the quality of life for many elderly and seriously ill people.

Contrary to popular belief, technology makes welfare more human. IT solutions free up time for healthcare and school staff, time that should be used for human contact with students, the elderly in care and those in need of medical care. More time for care is something both patients and staff are calling for.

Similarly, we depend on IT to maintain and raise standards in schools. Today, it is natural for most young people to seek knowledge and facts via the internet. But in schools, not much has changed in the last 10 years. Seven out of ten pupils in grades 4-6 do not use computers at school even once a week. In higher grades, only one in five use computers in math classes. The need for IT investment in schools is urgent. In particular, IT-based pedagogy has developed rapidly in recent years and needs to be better integrated into teaching. If our children are to succeed in the labor market of the future, it should go without saying that every student should have access to their own school computer. Although changes are now beginning to take place, over 70% of municipal upper secondary schools still state that they have a great need for investment in IT equipment.

We need to recognize that IT today is very different from what it used to be. From being a specialized field for experts, it is becoming an indispensable tool in the welfare sector.

For those of us who work in and represent Swedish IT companies, it is becoming increasingly clear that part of the solution to the problems of welfare systems lies precisely in the ability to use information technology to increase access to welfare services and to make the systems more efficient.

However, the IT industry needs to do a better job of showing what technology can do to improve welfare. One step in this direction is the new website valfardsteknologi.se, launched today, Thursday. It describes how IT can develop areas such as care, education, democracy and culture. The result could be more time and resources for things that cannot be rationalized, such as personal care. This will benefit children, the elderly and the sick, as well as employees in the welfare sector.

Anne-Marie Fransson and others, Director of IT & Telecom within Almega
Stefan Gardefjord, Chairman of IT & Telecom Companies within Almega, CEO Logica Sweden