Norwegian National Health Service
The Norwegian National Health Service ( Norwegian : Statens helsetilsyn ) is a national state institution in Oslo , which is subordinate to the Ministry of Health and Welfare ( Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet ). It has existed since 1809.
State oversight of health and social services
Government supervision in Norway ensures that national laws and regulations are complied with. Norway has extensive legislation in the area of social and health services. This specifies which services are available to the population and which demands are made on the quality of social and care services. The laws form the basis for the activities of the state-certified personnel in the health care system and grant rights to those who make use of social and health services, including their own patient rights .
Supervision extends to all services specified by law that are either provided by state hospitals , municipalities, private providers or self-employed health workers. The supervisory authorities are independent of the respective political leadership and largely determine which services should be supervised and which topics should be covered by supervision. This determination is based, among other things, on information about risks and the frequency of injuries.
The supervisory authorities should help ensure that the population's needs for social and health services are met and that the services are carried out professionally. In addition to a responsible and effective use of resources, the authority should also prevent a lack of services.
working area
Area monitoring is part of the work of the central supervisory authority. The task is to collect, systematize and interpret knowledge about social and health services. This knowledge forms the basis for being able to assess the coverage of requirements and the quality overriding.
Another task is the supervision of the individual companies (communities, homes, hospitals). System revisions based on internationally recognized methodology are used for this purpose. The establishments are examined by means of document inspection, questioning, inspection and spot checks, and the Central Office's report then describes the points at which the situation deviates from the law or the regulation. The supervisory authorities pursue such a deviation until the situation has been brought back into conformity with the law or regulation. Each year the Central Office selects two to four areas for national review.
The health supervision in a county (comparable to a German federal state) learns from various sources of a possible impairment of the social services, for example from patients, affected persons, employers, police, mass media. The approximately 2,000 cases annually are investigated to determine whether there has been a violation of laws or regulations. If there is an error, the Central Public Health Office responds by imposing conditions on the company or the state-approved health personnel to restore the prescribed conditions. The response can take the form of a warning, a revocation of the right to prescribe certain drugs, or a revocation of government approval.
The Central Public Health Office also serves as the central reporting point for medical misconduct that has led or could have led to significant personal injury. Hospitals are required by law to report such events.
Another area of work is to investigate complaints about the various services and lack of compliance with rights. Each year, the regulator handles between 6,000 and 8,000 such complaints at a fylke level , relating to either patient rights or social services law. Patients' rights give the population many rights in relation to health services. The law includes the right to necessary health care, the involvement of a specialist within 30 days, the choice of the hospital, access to and right to disclosure of the medical records, participation and information. There are also provisions on special rights for children, consent to health care, and an individual plan for those who need multiple services. The Social Services Act contains the obligation of the municipalities to provide services for the population. This includes information and advice to prevent or solve social problems, as well as offering practical assistance and information to those who have an increased need for help due to illness, a disability, their age or other causes. In addition, relief measures and wage replacement benefits for caregiving relatives, as well as care places, all-day care and / and apartments suitable for the disabled must be offered.
In addition, the supervisory authorities are actively working to ensure that the health and social services use the supervisory reports, the decisions on individual matters, the reports of errors and the publications of the Central Office as a source of knowledge in their work in order to develop management systems and improve the quality of services. Knowledge and experience from supervision, other knowledge bases and supervisory methods are publicly accessible.
The organization
The supervisory authorities are the Central Health Office, the health inspectorate in the "fylke" (province) and the "Fylkesmannen" (the administration of a "fylke").
The Central Office is a superordinate, national supervisory authority. The Swedish Health Service has about 115 employees (as of 2013), including lawyers, doctors, other health workers, social science trained employees and social scientists.
At the level of a “fylke”, the supervision is carried out by the health supervision in the “fylke” (health services and health workers) and the “Fylkesmannen” (social services).
The supervisory authorities are headed by director Jan Fredrik Andresen.