The letter about your right to healthcare

When your GP or another practitioner has referred you to a hospital or specialist, you receive a letter in reply. It tells you whether you have the right to healthcare from Norway's specialist health service and, if so, the latest date on which that care must start. It is an important letter, but it is not always easy to read. This guide explains what it means and what you can do if you disagree.

When the letter arrives

The place that receives your referral must assess it within ten working days. If serious illness is suspected, it must be quicker. The assessment is made by healthcare professionals, usually a specialist doctor, based on the referral and the Norwegian Directorate of Health's priority guidelines (in Norwegian), which recommend deadlines for different conditions. The person who referred you receives the same answer.

If you have heard nothing after ten working days, contact the place that received the referral, or your GP, and ask where it stands.

If you have been granted the right to healthcare

If the letter says you have the right to necessary healthcare, the specialist health service considers that you can benefit from the care, and that the benefit is in reasonable proportion to the resources it requires. You have then also been given three things.

You have been given a deadline. It is the latest date on which your care must start, and it is binding. You have been given an appointment, or told when you will be called in. The appointment must fall before the deadline. And you have been told how to complain if you disagree.

The deadline is not the same as the appointment. The appointment can be moved; the deadline stays fixed. And the deadline is only met once the assessment or treatment itself has started, not when you have attended a conversation about what will happen. Read more in our guide to missed deadlines.

The letter also says where you will receive care. You can still choose another hospital if the waiting time is shorter there, and your deadline goes with you. If you disagree with the deadline, the diagnosis or the treatment you have been offered, you can ask for a new assessment.

If you have not been granted the right

If the letter says you do not have the right to healthcare from the specialist health service, it means the place considers that you do not need care from it at present. It does not mean you need no help at all. Often your GP or the municipality is responsible for following you up, and your GP is the first person to talk to.

If you disagree, you have two options. You can ask your GP for a new assessment somewhere else, or whether a new referral with more information might lead to a different answer. And you can complain.

How to complain

If you believe you have the right to healthcare and were not granted it, or that the assessment was not made in time, you can complain. The complaint must be in writing and signed, and you send it to the place that made the assessment. It must look at the case again, and if it does not find in your favour, the complaint is passed on to the County Governor (Statsforvalteren). The deadline for complaining is four weeks from when you learned of the assessment, which is normally when you received the letter.

A good complaint is short and specific. State who you are and how you can be reached, which place and which assessment you are complaining about, and why you believe it is wrong. If your health has changed since the referral was written, make sure to include that. Helsenorge describes how to send a rights complaint (in Norwegian), and the Patient and User Ombudsman (in Norwegian) can advise you.

How we can help

We help you read the letter and understand what it means for you: whether you have been granted the right, what your deadline is, and whether your appointment falls within it. If you disagree with the assessment, we help you work out whether a complaint, a new assessment or a new referral is the best way forward, and help you write the complaint if that is what you choose. You send it, 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 necessary healthcare is set out in section 2-2 of the Patients' and Users' Rights Act, and the right to an assessment, a deadline and information in section 2-2 a. The criteria and what the letter must contain are in the Priority Regulations, and the Norwegian Directorate of Health explains them in its guidance on informing the patient. The right to complain is in section 7-2 and the deadline in section 7-5. These sources are in Norwegian. Helsenorge explains the scheme for patients in Right to treatment in the specialist health service.

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.