Municipal health care service, 2014

There has been a relatively constant growth in gross operating expenditure related to municipal health care services for many years, and the increase continued from 2013 to 2014. The expenditure amounted to almost NOK 15 billion, which corresponds to 8 per cent growth measured in current prices. During the 5-year period from 2010 to 2014, the rise in expenditure was 32.6 per cent. In 2014, the health care services amounted to 4.2 per cent of total municipal expenditure. 

Increased expenses over time in all areas of municipal health care services

Diagnostics, treatment, rehabilitation and habilitation represent the greatest item of expenditure within the municipal health care service. In 2014, the expenditure for these purposes was NOK 10.7 billion, and the amount has risen by 8 per cent since 2013. 

The expenditure related to prevention in the form of services provided by public health centres and school health care amounted to NOK 3 billion in 2014. This is an increase of 9 per cent from the previous year. The municipal expenditure for other preventive health services in the municipalities, such as public health centres for the elderly or immigrants, was NOK 1.2 billion; an increase of 4 per cent since 2013. 

More health examinations at public health centres

Almost all children in Norway attend health check-ups at the health centres in the municipalities. Ninety-nine per cent of new-borns had a health examination before they were eight weeks old. There has been a yearly increase since 2012 in the share of children being examined at health centres, both for the youngest and the older children. It continues to be the case that the percentage of children receiving health examinations falls as a child ages. 

In 2014, the number of man-years serving the public health centres and the school health care was nearly 4 400; 2.6 per cent more than in 2013. The community nurses carry out more than half of the man-years within these services. Community nurses had the biggest growth in man-years, with 7 per cent from 2013.

More GP agreements, shorter lists

The number of agreements between municipalities and general practitioners (GPs) has risen over time, and in 2014 there were more than 4500 such agreements. Two out of five GPs are women, and the percentage of female GPs has risen steadily over the past five years. The figures show that every fifth GP is an immigrant to Norway. On average, GPs have a list of 1 132 patients, and the number is decreasing from 1 178 in 2010. In 2014, each patient had 2.66 GP consultations on average. (For more information about GPs, see: https://www.ssb.no/en/helse/statistikker/fastlegetj/aar/2015-06-12#content) 

The agreements made between municipalities and GPs regulate to what extent the GP provides services other than tasks directly associated with regular patient treatment. In total, the number of man-years with medical doctors in the municipalities was 5 325 in 2014, up 2.5 per cent from the previous year. Man-years provided by physiotherapists increased by 1.3 per cent, and reached nearly 4 600.