2022 was the year when digital healthcare services were really set in motion. CheckWare warmly welcomes the digital maturation and increasing demand.
Significant cost growth, large investments in product and market development and a pandemic have not slowed the rate of growth in CheckWare. We work tirelessly to be consistent and systematic within the criteria we have established together with the company's employees: Be committed to customers and colleagues. Deliver quality. Be reliable. Be innovators.
It is crucial to have satisfied colleagues and satisfied customers who together contribute to responsible and continuous profitable growth so that we can also help our customers to maintain a good healthcare service in the future.
We are adding more and more skilled employees, and we are continuously recruiting to become more flexible, scalable and less vulnerable.
CheckWare has gone from being pioneers to occupying a position where we are established as a leading brand in Norway within our core business, which is digital patient participation.
Now we have to move on.
The fastest growth in the use of CheckWare is in the field of somatic health. We will serve more niches and segments, also in other countries, while at the same time we will become even better in the segments in which we are already well established.
We are proud to have a responsible relationship with our own finances. This can be illustrated by the fact that we were once again named a Gazelle company by Dagens Næringsliv. A Gazelle must have had sales growth in all of the past four years. At the same time, turnover must have doubled in the same four-year period, and the overall operating result must be positive.
The challenges ahead are significant for the health sector, both nationally and internationally. This creates opportunities for CheckWare.
The staffing situation in the health sector is a demanding challenge. The increased need for health and care services has mainly been solved through increased staffing. The number of man-years in the health and care sector in Norway has grown by more than 53 percent from 2002 to 2018, according to a recent report from Spekter and KS (conducted by Rambøll and Menon).
While it looks as if Sweden and Denmark have prioritized investments in infrastructure and technology, Norway has rather tried to work its way out of the challenges. We probably cannot continue with that.
In the report from Spekter and KS, user participation and technology are highlighted as two of the four most important dimensions for tackling the significant staffing challenges. This probably means that demands will be made to prioritize technology that provides at least the same quality with fewer employees per patient.
This means that solutions that facilitate self-management and more need-based services become highly relevant. These are areas where many of our customers already have extensive experience and find it useful. Vestre Viken's Virtual Hospital is among those investing heavily in digital home follow-up with user management for patients, and Helse Vest has the longest experience of using CheckWare.
Need-based outpatient clinics are on the agenda. When patients self-report digitally about their own situation from home, calls for unnecessary consultations are avoided, and health personnel have freed up time for those patients who are very ill and need help.
We at CheckWare feel very lucky to be in the midst of these major societal changes. We can play a role both as a supporter, but also as a driver of digital changes in collaboration with our customers.
We have introduced the CheckWare healthcare library. The idea is that the good ideas and concepts that have actually been developed can be shared with others. You get an overview of healthcare services that other customers have created using CheckWare's software and can offer these to your own patients. This way we get an ecosystem and a sharing culture where everyone can get inspiration and ideas and save time when they have to set up the same service themselves.
For us, it is important that the innovations that customers initiate are used by more people. Together, we will solve major societal tasks, where the health sector holds one of the keys. We enter the new year optimistically and look forward to new health innovations together with customers and partners.
We are definitely in the process of spreading the good news about an increasingly mature and digitized Norwegian health service within and beyond the national borders.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all friends of CheckWare!