Farsund is one of many Norwegian municipalities facing rising demand for health and care services. The population is changing, more residents need long term follow up, and it has become harder to recruit enough qualified staff. This makes it important to find tools that help employees use their time well and maintain high quality casework.

In 2025, Farsund ran a six week pilot of a speech to summary tool together with Omilon and Tandem Health. The aim was to see whether AI could help staff document conversations faster, reduce backlog, and create a more manageable workday. Twenty employees across three departments took part and recorded more than 400 conversations. The results drew national attention as NRK highlighted the pilot as an example of how municipalities can free up time in frontline services.

→ The full report from the pilot, including all data and financial calculations, is available here.

The challenge: Documentation delays draining focus and slowing care

Municipal health and care services depend on accurate and timely documentation. In Farsund, this work was difficult to complete during the day because employees moved between two to ten conversations, home visits, phone calls, and follow up tasks. Documentation often happened in several steps and was postponed until the evening, the next day, or sometimes one to three days later.

This delay reduced quality and increased stress. Staff said details were easily forgotten, assessments took from 30 minutes to several hours to write, and the backlog affected their ability to stay focused in the next meeting. Some noted that they skipped notes entirely when too much time had passed. Others said the task became harder the longer it was delayed.

These conditions created the same challenge across all three participating departments: documentation took too much time, was difficult to complete on time, and placed a high mental load on employees already managing many parallel cases.

The solution: Giving care givers a head start on every note

Farsund introduced Tandem’s AI scribe as a support tool for documenting conversations in everyday municipal casework. Tandem listened in the background, transcribed the dialogue, and produced a structured draft that the employee reviewed and approved.

This gave employees a cleaner starting point and reduced the need for handwritten notes, follow up summaries, and multi step documentation routines. Most notes could be completed immediately after the meeting instead of being postponed to the end of the day or the next.

The three departments adapted the templates to their own practice, shared examples with each other, and adjusted the setup as they learned what worked best. The tool did not change professional responsibilities, but it helped staff manage the volume and detail of daily conversations. Encouragingly, every participant chose to continue using the AI scribe after the pilot.

The results: Faster notes, less strain, and more clarity in patient encounters

The pilot showed that Tandem’s AI scribe improved both workflow and documentation quality across all three departments. Staff finished notes earlier in the day, carried less backlog between meetings, and described a clearer sense of presence in conversations. The teams also reported that drafts were more complete and consistent, which made follow up work easier.

The results gave Farsund a clear basis for expanding Tandem to more teams and continuing its rollout across the service:

• More than 80% less daily documentation time in Mental Health and Child and Youth Services, dropping from 60 minutes to 10 minutes per employee.
• 51% faster case documentation in the Administration and Rehabilitation Unit, reducing time per case from 92 minutes to 45 minutes.
• About 2 400 hours freed per year, equal to nearly two full time roles across the participating departments.
• An annual economic value of roughly NOK 1.08 million, calculated using the municipality’s standard model of 1 695 net working hours and an average hourly cost of NOK 332 plus pension and social contributions.
• Lower mental load and greater ability to follow the dialogue with patients.
• More complete and consistent documentation as drafts held onto key details and a clear structure.
• Full adoption across all pilot users, with more than 400 recorded conversations and every participant asking to continue.

“It’s a relief to know that the clinical note is finished when I move on to the next”


—Clinician and pilot participant in Farsund

From pilot to daily practice

Farsund ran a 6 week pilot across 3 departments with 20 employees who recorded more than 400+ conversations. The goal was simple. Test the tool in real work and see if it makes a difference. By the end, every person interviewed said they wanted to keep using it.

“For me, it’s hard to imagine going back to typing everything myself. This gives me the time and peace of mind to be more present in the conversation.” 



—Clinician and pilot participant in Farsund

The pilot showed what can happen when technology meets a team willing to shape it. Farsund has already doubled the number of people using Tandem and is testing the AI scribe in new parts of the service. The aim is straightforward, keep expanding where it works and learn from each step. As more teams adopt it, the municipality sees a chance to free up even more time and strengthen the quality of everyday care.