The social services in sparsely populated municipalities today face special challenges, such as difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff and limited resources, while the requirements for equal and high quality throughout the country remain. The lack of qualified applicants and small staff groups makes it difficult to organise specialist functions, which means that social workers need broad skills and handle a wide variety of cases. High staff turnover also makes it difficult to maintain continuity and develop skills. Digital solutions can therefore provide important support in these contexts.

This report is an assignment from the Nordic Council of Ministers and was a priority area during the Swedish Presidency in 2024. The mission aims to fulfil the Co-operation Programme for Health and Social Affairs 2025–2030 Goal 1; Welfare provisions in the Nordic Region must be sustainable, high quality, safe for both patients and care recipients, and accessible to all. The report also contributes to target 1.2 that the welfare provisions in the Nordic Region must be sufficiently staffed and operated by professionally qualified health and social care personnel, as well as goals in the Nordic-Baltic co-operation programme for digitalisation, sub-goal 2.2 Digitally secure, efficient, and inclusive public sector services.

This report is the result of a collaboration between the Nordic Welfare Centre and the Nordic Health and Welfare Technology Research Network. The Nordic Health and Welfare Technology Research Network aims to consolidate knowledge, research, higher education, and experiences in the field of health and welfare technology from a user perspective.