Primary health care in Vestfold county prior and after the introduction of the primary health act
Otterstad, H.Knut.
Tidsskrift for den Norske Laegeforening Tidsskrift for Praktisk Medicin Ny Raekke 122(29): 2799-2801
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0029-2001 PMID: 12523150 Document Number: 543181
A longitudinal analysis of the development of primary care in Norway focusing on Vestfold County shows that resources have increasingly been channelled to curative services, with less being spent on community-based preventive care. Vestfold, a county in the most densely populated area of Norway, with an expanding population and a growing economy, has seen a remarkable growth in private practice. There are several reasons for this. Socio-economic and demographic trends play a role; the provision of curative services is also more flexible and more profitable. Local municipalities seem to have given higher priority to curative services than to preventive tasks. Nation-wide, primary care has grown more slowly than specialised care. At the local level, care for the elderly, organised as a separate service, has been a winner.