The Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) have published an updated action plan: “The Nordic Region – towards Being the Most Sustainable and Integrated Region in the World”. The document describes 12 objectives. These are linked to three strategic areas:
Here follows an analysis of the NCM Action plan from a healthcare and health policy making perspective:
A green Nordic Region
The action plan states that the NCM will “work to make the Nordic Region a leader in circular, climate-neutral, and sustainable business models for the business sector” (Objective 3). This could relate to healthcare in that institutions will have to incorporate sustainable business models due the need to interact and collaborate with the private sector and developing secure and state of the art technology to advance service and knowledge in healthcare.
The action plan on a green Nordic Region also states that the Nordic Council of Ministers will “make it much easier and more attractive for Nordic consumers to prioritise healthy and environmentally and climate-friendly choices”. This relates to healthcare in the Nordic countries in that a patient-centred digital interface to the healthcare systems will reduce the number of time-consuming, costly and climate-unfriendly travels to hospitals and other healthcare centres. Making it easier and more attractive to prioritise healthy choices (a healthy food consumption is also a sustainable food consumption). (Objective 4) can also be seen as a means to prevent the development of disease in the population.
A competitive Nordic Region
The action plan for a competitive Nordic Region relates to healthcare in that healthcare works in symbiosis with the institutions that provide the knowledges tools and competences that are needed. The mandate of any healthcare system is to take care of health problems. As was demonstrated during Covid, a sustainable healthcare ecosystem is also good at utilising health problems for R&D and education. A Nordic Region that excels at creating structures that foster cross-country collaborations in Life sciences R&D, pre- and post-graduate education will develop a more prosperous bioeconomy and a healthcare workforce that is more receptive to change. Competition can be strengthened and citizens in the Nordic countries will get access to more knowledge- and competence-based healthcare services by helping to a) build up shared knowledge and research in the health domain, b) equip Nordic health technology companies so that they can utilise data and digital technology for innovation and smart solutions and c) make it possible to share health data between the Nordic countries quickly and securely.
A Nordic region that helps to give everyone the opportunity to learn and develop throughout life (objective 7) will contribute to a more resilient healthcare workforce. Objective 8 (leverage digitalisation and education to bind the Nordic countries even closer together) could motivate a Nordic educational programme for advanced digital skills in the healthcare sector.
A socially sustainable Nordic Region
The action plan on a socially sustainable Nordic Region states that NCM will contribute to good, equal, and secure health and welfare for all (objective 9). This part of the action plan should motivate the further development of digital health services across borders. Given the overall concern of equality, efforts to minimise the impact of vulnerability (‘vulnerable children, young people and adults’) and geography (‘sparsely populated areas’) could translate into a further broadening of the spectrum of services that are provided through a digital interface. As the set of vulnerable citizens overlaps with those on the wrong side of the digital divide, care must be taken to use knowledge on vulnerability, health and digital illiteracy to personalise the services that are offered. Portals that citizens increasingly use to interact with their healthcare providers can also be used to stratify the population and direct preventive healthcare measures to those at a larger risk.
The emphasis on ‘further developing Nordic co-operation on health to ensure better health for all’ and ‘the exchange of Nordic knowledge, research and innovation’ (objective 9) could also motivate a research and service improvement agenda for patients with rare diseases and others that are left in poor health simply out of lack of relevant knowledge.
That the NCM will work to improve healthcare preparedness illustrates the need to go beyond the structures that are needed for epidemiologic surveillance and capacity for instantaneous, problem-driven development of new knowledges and vaccines. Supply chain security and logistics of food and medicine are also important parts of a secure health and welfare system. The action plan on strengthening and expansion ‘of Nordic leadership in relation to trust and responsibility in the digitalisation of societal functions’ (objective 10) should further motivate the development of shared structures (e.g. a Nordic health data space) and service interfaces that would enhance the ability of health systems to learn (e.g. services that enables patients to provide data on the outcome of healthcare services). Finally, ‘NCM will maintain trust and cohesion in the Nordic Region’ (objective 12) could relate to healthcare in that ‘a study that will help to increase legal security for individual residents and public authorities in the digitalisation of the public sector’ could be carried out in the Nordic healthcare sectors.