Specialist health service - StatRes (discontinued), 2007

Total growth from 2006 to 2007 for the central government specialist health service was NOK 7.3 billion. The central government specialist health service is defined here as activities and services within health enterprises (HF) and regional health authorities (RHF), and in private hospitals and institutions with operating agreements with health enterprises and regional health authorities (HF/RHF). Expenses increased considerably within all specialist fields. The highest growth in terms of percentage took place within psychiatric care for adults, which rose by 11.8 per cent.

Treatment of substance abusers rose by 10.5 per cent, and psychiatric care for children and adolescents by 9.5 per cent. The smallest growth was within general care, which rose by 8.6 per cent.

The changes in the relative shares of the expenses for salaries, goods and services and medicines within general hospitals have been small. The shares have also been stable in the period 2005 to 2007.

Fall in bed days and increase in out-patient treatment

The number of discharges from the central government specialist health service has fallen with 0.5 per cent from 2006 to 2007. The fall has been strongest within psychiatric care for children and adolescents, at 15 per cent. Meanwhile, psychiatric care for adults saw an increase of 2.7 per cent. The increasing trend also continued in out-patient consultations, and within psychiatric care for children and adolescents the increase was 9.9 per cent. Substance abuse treatment saw an increase of 14.4 per cent.

The number of beds fell by 2 per cent overall, which has been the trend for a number of years.

Treatment classified by main diagnosis group within general care

Patient statistics classified by main diagnosis group within general hospitals shows two trends for the period 2002 to 2007. Main diagnosis groups are a rather rough classification into related diagnoses, but it can give an indication of the overall development. One trend is a relatively strong shift from inpatient to out-patient treatment and day cases. During the period 2002 to 2007, inpatient stays increased by 9.8 per cent, while day cases increased by 55.1 per cent and out-patient cases increased by 22.5 per cent. The other trend is that there are different trends concerning the various main diagnosis groups. The greatest change can be seen in the main diagnosis group Diseases of the eye and the eye area, with a fall in inpatient stays of 30.9 per cent. Meanwhile, day cases have seen an increase of 24.9 per cent, and out-patient cases has had an increase of 8.9 per cent.