When the hospital misses your deadline

If you have been granted the right to healthcare in Norway's specialist health service, you have also been given a deadline. The deadline is the latest date on which your healthcare must start, and it is binding on the hospital. If your healthcare has not started by then, the deadline has been missed (in Norwegian, fristbrudd), and you have the right to receive care without delay, from a private provider if necessary. This guide explains what the deadline means, what happens when it is missed, and what you can do yourself.

The deadline in your letter

Once the hospital has assessed your referral, you receive a letter. If you have the right to healthcare, the letter gives your deadline, together with the time of your first appointment or when you can expect to be called in. The appointment is not binding, but it must fall before the deadline.

The deadline is meant to reflect how long it is medically justifiable for you to wait, not how long the queue is. The hospital's capacity must not affect it.

Many people assume the deadline has been met because they have been given an appointment. It is only met once the assessment or treatment itself has started. If your first appointment is just a conversation about what will happen next, your healthcare has not yet started. The deadline only covers the start. After that, the rest of your care must still be provided within a justifiable time, but without a binding date.

When the deadline cannot be met

If the hospital cannot give you an appointment before the deadline, or has to move your appointment so that the deadline will be missed, it must notify Helfo straight away. Before doing so, the hospital may try to find you a place elsewhere within the deadline.

Once the missed deadline has been reported, Helfo sends you a letter on Helsenorge, or through Digipost or the post if you do not use Helsenorge. Helfo finds another treatment provider, who contacts you to arrange an appointment. You cannot choose the provider yourself. It will be a private provider with an agreement with the regional health authority, and the care must correspond to what you would have received in the public system. The hospital pays. Helsenorge lists the providers in the scheme.

The hospital remains responsible for making sure you get care, and it can still find you an offer after Helfo has been notified. If you end up with two offers, the choice is yours. If you accept Helfo's offer, you are taken off the hospital's waiting list. Sometimes Helfo cannot find an offer, and you then keep your place at the hospital.

Your travel to the provider is covered, but the arrangement differs from ordinary patient travel. As a rule, you arrange the journey yourself and apply for reimbursement afterwards on a paper form, marked "fristbrudd" and with the case number from Helfo. Follow the instructions from Pasientreiser (in Norwegian) carefully so that your claim is not rejected.

If you would rather wait

You do not have to accept Helfo's offer. You can stay in the queue at your own hospital, even if that means getting care after the deadline, but Helfo will then close your case. The same applies if the hospital offers you an appointment elsewhere within the deadline and you would rather wait for a particular place. This counts as your own choice to postpone, and you will not get an offer through Helfo.

Waiting can be a good choice, for example if you want to stay with people who already know your case. But it should be a choice you make because you want to, not because nobody told you there was another option.

If nobody has notified Helfo

Sometimes the deadline passes and nothing happens. If you believe your deadline has been missed and you have heard nothing, you can call Helfo's missed-deadline line yourself on +47 23 32 70 03, Monday to Friday, 09:00–14:00. Have the letter with your deadline to hand.

It pays to keep an eye on things before the deadline passes. If you have not been given an appointment as the deadline approaches, ask the hospital when you will be called in and whether the deadline will be met. If you get nowhere, the Patient and User Ombudsman (in Norwegian) can advise you.

Other ways forward

The missed-deadline scheme gives you an offer in Norway, but it is not the only way forward. As a general rule you can choose another hospital, and waiting times are published in Velg behandlingssted on Helsenorge (in Norwegian). If you still cannot get healthcare within a justifiable time in Norway, you can apply to Helfo for treatment in another EU/EEA country because of medically unjustifiable waiting times. Regardless of the deadline, you can also use the reimbursement scheme for treatment abroad.

How we can help

We help you read the letter and understand your deadline, keep track as it approaches, and contact the hospital or Helfo if it is missed. If you receive an offer, we can go through it with you before you decide. You make the choices and you get in touch, but you do not have to do it alone. Our help is free while we start up, and you can get started with a short form.

Sources

The rules are set out in sections 2-2 a and 2-2 b of the Patients' and Users' Rights Act and section 6 of the Priority Regulations. The Norwegian Directorate of Health explains them in its circular on section 2-2 b and its guidance on setting deadlines, all in Norwegian. Helsenorge explains the scheme for patients in Your rights in case of exceeded waiting time and Right to a binding deadline.

This guide is not legal advice, and the rules may change. It was last checked against the sources on 16 October 2026. You will find more guides under Guides.