Activity in out-of-hours services in Norway, 2007

1. Activity in out-of-hours services in Norway, 2007 16th Nordic Congress of General Practice May 2009, Copenhagen Elisabeth Holm Hansen, Erik Zakariassen,Steinar Hunskår

2. LEVEL 1 Municipalities Primary Health care Emergency medical services 24 hours a day Casualty clinics with or without nurses LEMC LEVEL 2 Regional Health Authorities Hospital EMCC /113 Ambulance services National Air ambulance Norway has a two-level public health care system

3. Background • In Norway, no valid activity statistics from the primary health care out-of-hours services • The National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care has initiated a project calledThe Watchtowers • Aim: Provide information to enable monitoring, evaluation and comparison of activities in primary health care emergency services

5. Material and methods • Day and night recording during one year of all requests to seven casualty clinics covering a total of 18 municipalities • Variables: Time, gender, age, mode of contact, priority grade and first response initiated

6. Results • During 2007 a total of 85 288 requests were registered, 399 contacts per 1000 inhabitants • Estimated mean number of requests to Norwegian Casualty Clinics per inhabitant per year: 0,4 • 55 % women • Mean age 35 years

7. Contacts according to population (%)

8. Mode of contact (%)

9. Priority degree (%)

11. Validation of contact registrations • Reimbursement claims for 2006: 1.3 mill consultations by doctor in out-of-hours work 392 contacts per 1000 inhabitants • Estimated national figures in our project 2007; 1,2 mill consultations by doctor in out-of-hours work 399 contacts per 1000 inhabitants

12. Interpretations • Norway has a high rate of contacts to the out-of-hours services compared to other countries • Norway has a large share of non-urgent cases • Mode of contact influences action taken • Valid national figures and future research of these services are important both for local services and policy makers