Strategic partnership strenghtens the collaboration between Oslo University Hospital and Sahlgrenska University Hospital

The collaboration will initially focus five areas:

• Laboratory medicine
• Psychiatry in transformation
• New care models, including “OUS Hjemme” and “Sahlgrenska Hemma”
• Leadership and productivity
• Digitalisation and AI

– To reform healthcare, university hospitals need to collaborate both nationally and internationally. Oslo University Hospital is a leading medical center for specialized healthcare, research, and innovation. Norway faces similar challenges as Sweden, and I look forward to deepening our efforts to create better healthcare in Europe, says Boubou Hallberg, CEO of Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

– We are equally satisfied to annonce the strategic partnership with Sahlgrenska University Hospital within these five important focus areas. The future calls on more – not less – national and international collaboration, says Bjørn Atle Lein Bjørnbeth, CEO Oslo University Hospital.

Collaboration areas

Laboratory medicine

Within this area the two hospitals aim to establish collaborative efforts in key areas of laboratory services to advanced diagnostics, research, innovation, and quality of care.

Psychiatry in transformation

This area includes collaborative efforts with focus on: organizational aspects, such as psychiatry versus somatic care, and task distribution between departments, productivity and operational data and new hospital buildings and ICT (information and communication technology).

New care models

Oslo University Hospital and Sahlgrenska University Hospital are of similar size and have comparable missions with hospital-wide strategies on specialist home care. Both hospitals are actively working to develop and scale up this care model and anticipate significant mutual learning from the collaboration.

Leadership and productivity

The two hospitals aim to establish collaborative efforts with focus on what is required, and how to develop the leadership that will take university hospitals towards becoming leading in the 2030s. Another focus area will be to facilitate the transition of healthcare between different healthcare models and the corresponding allocation of resources.

Digitalisation and AI

Within this area the hospitals aim to establish collaborative efforts with focus on digital workplace, development of testbeds for digital innovation, organization for transitioning from a prototype of a technical solution to large scale implementation and joint research and innovation projects within

• applied AI
• remote monitoring
• Internet of Things, IoT, and citizen-initiated health data
• digital twins and synthetic health data.

– This and other collaborations are a significant step towards creating better healthcare for patients in Sweden and Norway. We learn so much by taking part in others' solutions, seeing how they work, but also by sharing our own knowledge, concludes Boubou Hallberg.

– Sahlgrenska University Hospital has achieved significant international recognition for both it’s work in patient care and research, much similar to OUS, so this partnership is a good match. Together we will lead the way in fields like Hospial at Home and Psychiatry, says Bjørn Atle Lein Bjørnbeth.