Denmark's smallest municipality has implemented a new electronic care and social record 

Læsø Municipality, with just 1,800 residents, has become the 38th Danish municipality to use the record system, Columna Cura. The implementation marks a significant modernisation of the municipality's healthcare documentation and procedures.

In December 2024, Læsø Municipality began using the Columna Cura record system in the health, care, and social sector. In just 90 days, the municipality successfully started using the new system that is already improving workflows and providing real-time documentation for its staff. 

Successful implementation despite tight timeline 

Martin Lyhne Petersen, special consultant in the Elderly and Health Administration in Læsø Municipality, has been the project manager for the implementation of Columna Cura. He describes the process as intense but necessary to keep pace with digital development. 

"We have known for some time to get a new system. It was crucial for us to get a solution that supports the new national initiatives regarding cross-sector collaboration, comprehensive patient overview, and health records. These are functions that many other municipalities have had for several years, and which are absolutely essential for delivering contemporary care," says Martin Lyhne Petersen and continues: 

"While the process has been intense and involved many new considerations, it has provided us with important functions that we have been lacking for some time." 

The solution was activated in the home care services in December 2024. Since then, it has been expanded to include the care home, social services, and training areas. The next step is to include the assistive device area in the solution.

Real-time documentation and better care on the Island's terms 

Læsø Municipality has provided work tablets to facilitate the implementation of Cura. This allows staff to easily access and document relevant information directly while visiting residents, eliminating the need to return to the office to register information. 

"It has tremendous value that we can now document immediately while with the resident. It means that we get a more updated and real-time registration of residents' conditions and needs," says Martin Lyhne Petersen. 

Using the Cura app on the tablet, staff ensure that all resident information is documented and relevant details about their well-being are shared across departments so that knowledge is not lost. They can easily see which tasks need to be performed for the resident, which tasks have already been completed, and if there are any special considerations to take. 

At the same time, offline functionality is also a high priority for the Municipality, as Læsø has areas with poor mobile coverage. Cura allows staff to work in the system without mobile coverage and then syncs data once a network connection is re-established. 

Fewer stakeholders, faster progress 

As Denmark's smallest municipality, Læsø has had a different implementation process than other, larger municipalities. With only a handful of people directly involved in the project, decision-making processes have been faster. However, it has also required that the involved staff cover broader areas of competence. 

"We are a small team, which has actually been an advantage in terms of being able to make quick decisions. For example, we only need to coordinate with one care home, whereas larger municipalities need to take many different institutions into account," says Martin Lyhne Petersen. 

The staff have welcomed the new system, but the transition has naturally required and continues to require adaptation to new workflows. 

"The staff have approached the task with great enthusiasm, and they have been good at providing constructive feedback when adjustments were needed. Fortunately, it has been easy to make the system adjustments needed to support the staff's requirements," says Martin Lyhne Petersen.