A majority want more technology in the healthcare sector

With the prospect of more elderly citizens, more chronically ill persons and rising costs for advanced treatment methods, Denmark can expect that more funds must be allocated to health and care. And if you ask the Danes, there is no doubt that new technology must be given top priority when it comes to providing more resources for the healthcare system.

Such is the conclusion of a population survey among 1,000 Danes conducted by Analyze Danmark for the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA. A whopping 64 percent of those questioned point to increased use of technology as part of the solution to the problems faced by the healthcare system, making it the absolute high jumper in the survey. At the bottom lies increased user payment for practical help and personal care.

IDA's president Laura Klitgaard therefore calls on politicians to ensure a technological upgrade of the Danish healthcare sector.

"There is no doubt that it will require a completely different and much sharper focus on health technology solutions if we are to secure the healthcare system of the future. Today, the pressure is already enormous and there is a shortage of hands. The health sector is collapsing without more health technology", she says.

Ditch smaller local hospitals

According to Laura Klitgaard, the SVM government can start by ditching all plans to establish new local hospitals for almost four billion kroner, and instead prioritize health technology and AI solutions in the entire health field from hospitals to home care.

"There is no need for more bricks. The restrictive budget ceilings in regions and municipalities should instead be done away with when it comes to investment in technology. This can be done, among other things, by introducing a new multi-year technology budget alongside the traditional one-year construction and operating budgets", says IDA's president.

Online meetings in the healthcare system

In the survey, almost 3 out of 4 (72 percent) respond that IT and modern technology are easy for them to use, and that they are comfortable with video meetings with a doctor or hospital. 80 percent of the citizens who have themselves tried having a video consultation with the healthcare services are positive.

On this basis, IDA wants to make it a new right for citizens to choose digital health services in the form of, for example, virtual meetings, disease monitoring in their own homes and online meetings with home caretakers.

"It's about finding solutions that can alleviate the lack of resources in a crowded healthcare system, so that the healthcare professionals have more time for the core task. Digital health services free up time and save both patients and relatives from traveling to and from the hospital in a busy everyday life", says Laura Klitgaard.

Read IDA's 13 recommendations on health technology at www.ida.dk/sundhedstech (in Danish)