An urgent need
Care homes, activity or senior centers and home care services - both public and private - battle the global challenge regarding the growth in the aging population, in combination with an expected shortage of health-care professionals and resources (budget) in the care sector.
This is a three folded challenge that threatens known welfare systems - they can collapse. There is an urgent need to find solutions on how to avoid costs, save time and increase quality.
Many of the age-related disorders may be caused by inactivity more than age itself. The main challenge is how to motivate older people and people with dementia to be more physically and cognitively active and connected to other people through social interaction - without increasing the need for more personnel.
Any true innovation is an implemented one
The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) is the organization for all local governments in Norway. KS is Norway’s largest public employer organization. They have made several Quick Guides based on KS's Roadmap for service innovation and project management tools, and are intended for municipalities that work with the introduction of welfare technology.
Implementing welfare technology is demanding, so it is important that the management is involved, that sufficient resources are set aside and that the work is well planned. The guide helps you to structure this and provides guidance from the planning phase until welfare technology is a natural part of the service.
Impact management is crucial when we expect a shortage of health-care professionals and resources (budget) in the care sector. KS has a Quick Guide dedicated to tips and advice for estimating gains of implementing technology such as the Motiview-concept. It looks like this:
Costs without welfare technology
- Costs of welfare technology
= Savings from welfare technology
- Cost of welfare technology
= Profit
A cost-benefit analysis is a good tool for deciding whether to introduce welfare technology is economically profitable. The cost-benefit analysis compares potential savings and relevant costs linked to the technology. This can be done using this formula, according to KS.
Look to Motiview
At a care home in the City of Bergen, Norway, a lady had an Alzheimer's diagnosis and was overweight so she needed help from two carers to get through daily care. She was introduced to Motifiew and she loved the films from her familiar places. As she pedaled Motiview-films the lady reduced her weight by 11 kilo. This meant that she could contribute more through daily care and the care home could reduce from two to one caregiver for her.
According to the KS Quick Guide, in this case the care home avoided 40-45% of costs regarding the daily care.
The Motiview stories from the multiple units pedaling our global library of local films are great. Yes, the challenge we battle is global. But we strongly believe that the solution needs to be local. Easy to learn. Easy to use.