TeliaSonera Sweden behind phone-based healthcare service

TeliaSonera Sweden behind phone-based healthcare service During the spring of 2005 the first county councils in Sweden will be able to connect to a national telephone network for healthcare advice and information. The system is based on a nationwide phone number, 1177, which people can dial to get a nurse on the line, within a few minutes, at one of the county council healthcare units that have chosen to belong to the network. In a tender competition, TeliaSonera Sweden was chosen by the Federation of County Councils (Landstingsförbundet) to provide the necessary platform. In addition to providing the ContactCenter platform CallGuide VCC, Telia will deliver and operate the telephony service connecting the healthcare advising units of the county councils in a network. Telia will be responsible for the traffic and the solution in Telia's production environment, which is based on Telia's initiative to develop its management of services outsourced by companies and authorities. The service will provide economies of scale and improve healthcare information services for people in Sweden. The purpose of a common and more advanced healthcare information service is to improve accessibility to healthcare over the phone and ensure the quality of the service. By coordinating healthcare advisory services on a national level, the county councils can relieve each other during peak periods and offer a 24-hour service at moderate cost. Later on, they will offer telephone advice in different languages and within various specialty areas, something each county council has difficulties in providing to local patients today. "We are aware that government municipalities, authorities and county councils in Sweden will face major challenges in the future," says Marie Ehrling, head of TeliaSonera Sweden. "Telia wants to be a cooperation partner to develop services and working procedures that raise the level of service, increase efficiency and reduce costs." Joining the network is voluntary and each county council will evaluate whether or not it wants to become part of it and when it wants to join. The goal is provide healthcare advice to the entire population of Sweden, through the 1177 phone number, within the next few years. _______________________________________________________ For further information journalists can contact: TeliaSonera Sweden´s Press Service, +46-(0)8-713 58 30 About the Federation of County Councils and the Healthcare Advice by Phone Project via 1177: The Swedish Federation of County Councils is carrying out the Healthcare Advice by Phone Project, which will coordinate telephone-based healthcare advice on a nationwide basis in Sweden. The aim of the project is to improve accessibility to medical care by providing healthcare advice directly on the phone or to advise patients on the medical care unit they should turn to. The project's mission is to create the technical, economic and organizational prerequisites needed to enable the healthcare advice units of the county councils to collaborate and relieve each other's healthcare workload in a network. The project was started in 2003 and is expected to be finished by 2006. More information about the project can be found at www.lf.se/sjukvardsrad. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/05/17/20040517BIT00020/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/05/17/20040517BIT00020/wkr0002.pdf