Together with Halogen, Digitale Helgeland has explored the extent to which digitalization can help improve the work situation for authorized veterinarians.
Access to authorized veterinarians is a problem in large parts of Norway. Insufficient veterinary coverage affects public health, animal health, food safety and societal preparedness. In addition, veterinarians report that the work situation is challenging; long working days, hard pressure, great responsibility and an unsatisfactory salary level. Together with Halogen, Digitale Helgeland has explored the extent to which digitalization can help to improve the work situation for authorized veterinarians.
Among the municipalities in Helgeland that have participated in the project, the project has helped to increase understanding of the municipality's responsibility for ensuring a proper veterinary service. Furthermore, the project has helped the various players in the veterinary service to finally have the opportunity to meet and discuss solutions to common problems. The needs of the three core actors veterinarian, farmer and municipality have become clear, which has led to further work on developing a concept for a national collaboration system. After early user tests, we also see that the system we worked on can contribute to:
We have conducted a thorough insight process, with interviews with veterinarians, farmers, municipalities, Animalia and the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture. We also conducted an insight tour, where we shadowed a veterinarian in the field.
We also facilitated a workshop with the key players in the project, where they contributed to enriching the insights and generating ideas.
Based on the insights and input from the workshop, the ambition is now to develop a national collaboration system - a digital platform for PCs and mobile apps - for the veterinary service.
In the first phase of the project, we have delivered an insight report with recommendations for further action.
