A new assessment or a new referral

If you disagree with the answer to your referral, or your situation has changed since it was written, the first answer need not be the last. You have the right to have your case assessed again by another specialist, and if your health gets worse while you wait, that should affect when you get care. This guide explains how to go about it.

The right to a new assessment

Once you have received the answer to your referral, you can ask to be assessed again in the specialist health service. It may be because you were not granted the right to healthcare, because you disagree with your deadline, your diagnosis or the treatment you have been offered, or simply because you feel something is not right. You do not have to give a reason. The law calls this a reassessment (fornyet vurdering).

Raise it with the doctor who referred you, usually your GP. The doctor sends a new referral if there are medical grounds for it, and needs a proper reason not to. If the doctor says no, you are entitled to a thorough explanation, and you can complain to the County Governor (Statsforvalteren).

You can choose where the new assessment takes place, and it is often wise to choose somewhere other than the first place. The new assessment is independent. It may lead to a different answer, but it is not necessarily better, and it does not automatically take precedence over the first one. Together with your doctor, you choose which of them to go forward with.

The right applies once for the same condition. The Norwegian Directorate of Health stresses that for people with chronic illness this must not be applied so strictly that the right loses its meaning. The usual requirement of an answer within ten working days does not apply to a reassessment.

A new assessment or a complaint

A new assessment and a complaint are two different things. A complaint is about whether you have received your rights, and is ultimately decided by the County Governor. A new assessment is a fresh professional look at your health, from another specialist. If you disagree with the medical assessment itself, a new assessment is often the most direct route. You can do both. How to complain is explained in our guide to the letter about your right to healthcare.

If your health gets worse while you wait

Your deadline is the latest date on which your care must start, not a date you have to wait for. If you get worse while you wait, the hospital must give you care sooner if that is what is medically justifiable, and it does not need to set a new deadline to do so.

The hospital only knows what is in the referral and what you tell it, though. So let both the hospital and your GP know what has changed. Your GP can send updated information or a new referral. The assessment is based on what the referral says, so what has changed needs to be in it, including how urgent it is.

If it is an emergency, do not wait for a letter. Call the out-of-hours medical service on 116 117, or 113 if life is at risk.

A new assessment by a GP

Your GP's assessment can also be looked at by someone else. If you are on a GP's list, you have the right to a new assessment of your health by another doctor in the regular GP scheme. You do not need a referral, but the other doctor's notes are sent to your own GP. This can be useful if you and your GP disagree about whether you need a referral at all.

How we can help

We help you work out which route suits your case: a new assessment, a new referral, a complaint or a change of hospital. We help you prepare for the conversation with your GP, find a place for the new assessment, and gather what has changed since last time so that it is included. You make the choices, 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 right to a reassessment is set out in section 2-3 of the Patients' and Users' Rights Act, and the Norwegian Directorate of Health explains it in its circular on section 2-3. That a worsening condition can mean care before the deadline is set out in its circular on section 2-2 a. The right to a new assessment by another GP is in section 7 of the regulations on patients' rights in the GP scheme. These sources are in Norwegian. Helsenorge explains the right for patients in Entitlement to re-assessment.

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.