The introduction of Millennium in the Västra Götaland Region (VGR) was paused after just three days last year, following technical problems and strong protests from healthcare staff.
Now politicians are being advised to scrap the system completely – despite the high additional costs of alternative solutions.
But you also have to take into account the costs that arise if we have a system that is not functional. And there is the assessment that Millennium is not functional based on our needs, says regional director Ann-Charlotte Järnström.
The opportunity costs are difficult to assess, but we still assess them as significantly higher.
Great concern
The recommendation to scrap Millennium is included in the final report that an internal coordination group presented on Monday.
The announcement came as a relief for the healthcare staff, according to Emelie Hultberg.
In the face of this announcement, there has been quite a bit of concern that they would actually choose to keep Millennium in some way, she says.
It's just a huge relief right now that the views expressed have actually been listened to.
However, colleague Laura Raduta, chairwoman of the medical association at Södra Älvsborg Hospital, calls it a "bitter victory".
I've lost so much trust and I don't know how to get it back.
“New strategy”
According to the coordination group, it would cost SEK 5.5 billion to continue with Millennium, in addition to the SEK 3.7 billion already spent.
Procuring a completely new system is estimated to cost just under ten billion SEK, while the alternative recommended by the group – a modular solution – is estimated to cost around eleven billion SEK.
"It's a completely new strategy. It was a completely different era when they decided to introduce Millennium, and the technical possibilities that exist today didn't exist then," says Per Albertsson, one of the decision-makers in the coordination group.
The solution with different modules is expected to take longer, up to ten years. But in return, the systems can be better adapted to the needs of the operations, points out Anders Kullbratt, decision-maker in the coordination group.
What is a bit ingenious about this choice of path is that we can start from our existing systems and implement measures where it is most necessary, he says.
The recommendations will now be forwarded to the politicians in VGR.
