- Success story
Collaboration enables new digital follow-up for patients with aphasia
Through close collaboration between Sunnaas Hospital and the health technology company Innocom, a new digital service for home-based follow-up of patients with aphasia has now been implemented as a standard clinical offering. The solution provides patients with intensive language training at home and demonstrates how collaboration between the healthcare sector and industry can deliver more accessible and inclusive health services.
Written by
Therese Oppegaard
This article was first published on Sunnaas hospital's website
📸 Innocom AS
The new service, Digital Home-Based Follow-Up for Aphasia (DHO Aphasia), provides patients with speech and language therapy via video after completing their rehabilitation stay at the hospital. The service is organisationally anchored within the Department of Non-Traumatic Brain Injury at Sunnaas Hospital, which is also responsible for operating the programme.
The treatment is delivered through the technical solution Berntsen, developed by Innocom in close collaboration with the hospital’s clinical environments.
Patients receive a customised iPad and take part in three to five hours of language training per week over a four-week period, tailored to individual needs.
– We are pleased to be able to offer this programme as a standard clinical service. Many patients will now receive an important follow-up offer at an early stage after primary rehabilitation, say Department Head Viva Rykken Heimdal and Head of department Hege Prag Øra from the department of Non-Traumatic Brain Injury.
Clinical director Frank Becker highlights the importance of the interdisciplinary collaboration behind the solution:
– It is great to see DHO Aphasia now established as a clinical service. This is the result of many years of work across development, research, innovation and implementation, involving multiple professional environments and stakeholders.
📸 Fra v.: Hege Eiklid in Innocom, Frank Becker and Sonja Erlenkamp at Sunnaas hospital
Technology tailored to users
The idea of tele-speech therapy, meaning video-based language training, has existed for a long time.
– The need arose due to a shortage of speech therapists, especially in rural areas. As a result, many patients have not received the treatment they need, says Sonja Erlenkamp, Process Manager at the Department of Technology and Digitalisation.
Experience from Sunnaas Hospital has shown that many patients with aphasia struggle with standard digital solutions, creating additional workload for both clinicians and caregivers.
The new solution has therefore been developed with a strong focus on usability and simplicity.
– When the technology works, we have more time for actual therapy. Sessions become more effective, and both patients and therapists benefit more, says speech and language therapist Charlotte Rolfsen Gaasland, who delivers treatment using the solution.
The development of the service has involved broad internal collaboration at Sunnaas, including speech and language therapists, the outpatient clinic, the service centre, and the hospital’s digital home-based follow-up team.
Berntsen takes the step from municipal services to specialist healthcare
The solution enabling the digital home-based follow-up has been developed by the company Innocom, which is behind the activation technology Berntsen. The solution is designed to make users feel safer, more active and more independent, while at the same time reducing the burden on caregivers and the healthcare system. Innocom previously won Norway’s first innovation partnership and works closely with both healthcare professionals and end users to ensure solutions based on real needs.
The company has primarily focused on the municipal market, where Berntsen has become an integrated part of several municipalities’ services within physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Innocom has experienced significant growth in recent years and currently has around 20 municipalities on its customer list. The collaboration with Sunnaas Hospital also demonstrates that the solution is highly relevant within specialist healthcare, opening up new use cases beyond municipal health and care services.
– The collaboration has provided us with a valuable innovation boost, and it is inspiring to develop solutions together with such a highly competent clinical environment, says Hege Eiklid, founder and CEO of Innocom.
Sunnaas Hospital is widely recognised as Norway’s leading rehabilitation hospital, with strong clinical and research credentials. The hospital’s decision to adopt Berntsen as part of a new treatment pathway gives the solution high professional legitimacy and visibility. At the same time, the collaboration helps position Innocom as a supplier and demonstrates how the technology is also relevant within specialist healthcare.
– The fact that Berntsen is now in regular operation at Sunnaas opens doors to additional health trusts, expanded treatment pathways and national collaboration projects, Eiklid adds.
An example of the value of collaboration within the cluster
The collaboration between Sunnaas Hospital and Innocom, both members of Norway Health Tech, illustrates how cluster members can come together to develop new solutions—from ideas and identified needs to fully implemented services in clinical practice. The result is a more accessible treatment offering for patients with aphasia, regardless of where they live.
With this solution, Sunnaas Hospital has also established a system that can be further developed for other patient groups at risk of being excluded from digital health services, marking an important step towards more inclusive rehabilitation.
