Your contact person in Denmark: Hanne Hansen-Nord

Having started in her role as our key account manager in Denmark in February 2017, Hanne Hansen-Nord has 20 years of experience in the healthcare sector and in sales.

Hanne’s first months at NewIcon have been pleasantly busy, spent learning about NewIcon’s product range and building a customer and cooperation network in Denmark.

What is it about health technology that fascinates you?
It has been interesting to follow the development of health technology. Just ten years ago, people were responding to innovations in health technology with some degree of caution. Today, however, we understand that technology is a tool that can make our lives easier.

When you work in the healthcare sector, you understand the benefits that technology brings: your skills and expertise can be devoted to more useful tasks if robots can take care of time-consuming routine work. All changes take time, but I believe that the time for wellbeing technology is now. When it comes to the development of health technology, I’m also fascinated by the impressive pace of change. Systems and robots are getting smarter and better all the time, which is improving patient safety.

What can we learn from the health care system in Denmark?
First of all, in healthcare we should seek out ways to make operations more efficient and provide more services for less money.  The money saved could be used to further develop the system. Here in Denmark, we have been at the forefront of this kind of work, and we could share our experiences and lessons learnt with others. Reducing stays in hospital and taking patient care into the home using technological solutions is one way of making healthcare more efficient. I think it’s also important for nurses to be trained to carry out more duties that can currently only be performed by doctors.

What was the last thing you learnt in your work?
In my new role I’m very excited about how robot technology and automation can help healthcare in Denmark. In this role I’m constantly seeing that this is the topic on everyone’s lips at the moment. So now is an excellent time to be working for NewIcon, too. The timing of the decision to establish an office in Denmark was excellent, as a number of new hospitals are being built in the country at the moment.

What are NewIcon’s strengths in the Danish market?
I believe that NewIcon’s strength lies in its product development work, with its basis firmly in the latest technologies. We tailor solutions to meet customers’ needs and to suit existing facilities. In short, the company’s strengths are in its use of the latest technology, its long experience and its flexibility. This is exactly what customers in Denmark need. Although it’s not easy to admit this as a Dane, it seems that Finnish hospitals are some way ahead of ours when it comes to automation – but I promise you, we’re catching up all the time!

What do you do in your free time?
I run with my local club, Næsby motion, 2–3 times a week. I’ve been running for many years, since long before it became fashionable. I’ve also been playing golf for six years, which requires a completely different state of mind. However, let’s just say that I’m not a ‘natural talent’ in this sport. It’s hard work and requires practice and focus. My handicap is currently 30, but my aim for next year is to try to reduce it. We’ll see how that goes!