Weekly Bulletin issue 34, 1996

More doctors in local health services

The number of doctors employed by local municipal health services in Norway increased by more than 300 full-time equivalents from 1987 to 1995. Other groups of health professionals also received higher priority. Staffing among physical therapists, midwives and nurses increased by 1,350 person-years from 1987 to 1995. At the end of 1995, five per cent of the positions available to these four occupational groups were vacant. The percentage was two and three times higher in rural municipalities, according to preliminary statistics on personnel employed in municipal health services.

The rise in medical practitioner full-time equivalents from 1987 to 1995 outstripped population growth, lowering the doctor-to-patient ratio. However, this does not mean that most people in Norway have greater access to local medical services. Several factors have led to an increase in the need for medical services. Among other things, the "deinstitutionalisation" of both psychiatric care and care of the mentally retarded in favour of "care in the community" programmes has meant that local governments are now responsible for more groups of patients.

New Statistics

Medical and physical therapy services in municipalities, 1995.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics, and will also be published in the series Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) when the final figures are available. More information: Jon Erik Finnvold, tel. +47 21 09 45 46, e-mail, jef@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue 34, 1996