How Älmhult Municipality moved from a local pilot to a full-scale cognitive support technology programme, and what it shows about implementation, staff time, and predictability of care.
Älmhult Municipality in Sweden began with a small idea: testing an app-based planning tool for one unit at Oxtorget. Rather than treating this as a one-off, the municipality carried out an extensive needs analysis across its functional support activities before deciding whether to scale further. That analysis led to a municipality-wide procurement of MEMOplanner, moving through testing, piloting, and procurement into broad implementation. The goal has been to replace manual paper schedules and whiteboards with a unified digital platform. The result is increased independence and pride among the individuals, as well as a better structured working environment and improved communication for staff.
We're sharing this as an international example for UK commissioners and providers thinking through similar decisions, since the implementation pathway and the operational outcomes Älmhult describes are directly relevant to dom care and supported living settings here, even though the service structures differ between Sweden and the UK.
The picture support in MEMOplanner makes it easier for Åsa and Linn to talk about the upcoming spa trip and overnight stay
"Nice not to have to keep everything in your head"
At Hedvig's home things are in full swing. She lives in her own apartment with staff in the house next door, and for her the MEMOplanner in the hallway has become the support she needs to get going in the morning and get herself off to her day service.
"You have to press the green button here, and then it becomes a green tick and then it's done!", Hedvig explains enthusiastically.
The screen also helps keep track of social boundaries that can otherwise be difficult to remember, such as the fact that today's plan says you shouldn't ring round to people before 9 in the morning or after 10 in the evening. Her support assistant Claes says that Hedvig is very active in her tool:
"Hedvig puts in a lot of activities herself, and then I can help out and support from my end."
Hedvig demonstrates her MEMOplanner
Claes Lange is one of the designated "Superusers" who has been especially active in the implementation. Claes has a great interest in the technology and has many ideas for improvements. myAbilia with group functionality is one of the most important building blocks for achieving organisational benefit, and he really sees potential in the system and also has a lot of valuable feedback for Abilia's developers.
Claes Lange, Superuser in MEMOplanner and myAbilia
Inside Pontus's apartment in the group home Oxtorget, masses of belongings testify to a great interest in cars and Elvis. For him, the wall-mounted MEMOplanner has become a central source of security in everyday life.
"It's a really good thing, this, not having to keep everything in your head", Pontus explains, while showing how he checks off things he doesn't want to miss or that he used to worry about having forgotten, such as locking the door or feeding his fish.
Pontus thinks it's a really good thing, not having to keep everything in his head
Pride and reduced areas of conflict
When we meet Otto it turns out he has double reason to celebrate. It's his birthday. He confidently flips back and forth between the days on his board to show how the celebration has been planned. Today there'll be cake at Oxtorget, and at the weekend a barbecue with loved ones awaits.
For Otto, MEMOplanner has also become an important educational tool.
"I clean on Mondays", says Otto, clicking through to a checklist on the screen that shows step by step how the cleaning is done. For the activity "washing" there is a video recording that shows how his particular washing machine works. Otto recognises Linn's voice in the video and points at Linn.
He can also take the instructional video with him on his phone to the laundry room, which makes him considerably more independent in his everyday chores. You can see a mile off how proud Otto is of everything he now manages on his own.
Otto explains that there'll be cake today
At Nelly's, digitalisation has also brought a great lift for communication. She sits on the sofa and shows how she can easily create a new activity in her mobile app, take a picture and send it straight to the board on the wall.
"I'm quite tired, I've been working at Fokus today", she says, clicking up the long list of activities she has carried out during the day.
Being able to use the MEMOplanner to show and explain her day has changed a lot. Because Nelly can show in black and white why she is tired, the risk of misunderstandings with those around her is reduced.
Nelly sends a picture from MEMOplanner Go
A smart planning tool for staff too
In a staff room at Oxtorget we sit down with Linn Bengtsson, project manager and support teacher with the municipality. She shows how they use the administration tool myAbilia. Älmhult has in fact been very inventive and also lets the tool function as an internal planning platform for the staff team.
"It makes things enormously easier, having everything in one place. In myAbilia with group functionality we can see the service users' activities and add to their boards centrally, but we also put in internal activities that only concern us as staff, such as watering the flowers or sorting the lunch boxes", Linn explains.
Linn Bengtsson, together with Louise Ljungberg, have been the driving and responsible project managers who have led Älmhult Municipality through this whole digital journey. Abilia has been involved along the way with staff training and workshops, but it is Linn and Louise's solid work on preparation, implementation and careful documentation in the follow-up that has laid the foundation for the implementation running so smoothly.
"The greatest benefit for us at Oxtorget is that there has been much better communication between staff and service users. Service users have got a predictable everyday life in a completely different way from before. Because service users and staff have exactly the same expectations of a given intervention, we have managed to reduce areas of conflict considerably", Linn concludes with a smile.
Linn Bengtsson, project manager and support teacher with the municipality, shows how they use MEMOplanner and the administration tool myAbilia
