Life Hacks: Practical Tips for Navigating Healthcare in Sweden (Hospitals and Local Clinics – Vårdcentral)
Moving to a new country can be challenging, especially when dealing with day-to-day activities like accessing healthcare. In Sweden, one of the common struggles is getting an appointment at a hospital or local healthcare clinic (vårdcentral), largely due to funding cuts that have reduced staffing in the healthcare sector.
It’s often said in Sweden that “if you don’t fake it, you won’t make it,” and unfortunately, this can apply to healthcare as well. If you call your local clinic with mild symptoms, it’s likely you won’t get an appointment right away. Instead, they may ask you to wait until your symptoms worsen. On the other hand, if you exaggerate your symptoms—such as claiming to have a high fever or chest pain—you might secure an appointment more quickly. Even then, you’ll often need to call during specific hours or be told to call back the next day.
Another option is to visit a local emergency center (närakuten), but the same challenge applies. If your symptoms are mild, the nurses at reception may turn you away. To increase your chances of seeing a doctor, you might need to exaggerate your symptoms again. To avoid this, you can call 1177 (Sweden’s healthcare advice line) beforehand. If they recommend that you visit the emergency center, mentioning this at the reception will improve your chances of being seen. However, even here, exaggerating your symptoms may still be necessary to get that recommendation.
If you work for a company that offers employee health insurance (sjukvårdsförsäkring), you can usually secure an appointment within 24 hours. However, this insurance typically doesn’t cover family members unless you purchase a private insurance plan for them.
For some, healthcare access becomes easier if they have friends or acquaintances working as doctors at their local clinic. If you register at a clinic where your friend works, it can be much easier to get an appointment with that specific doctor. With the increasing number of foreign doctors in Sweden, this has become a common advantage for many immigrants. Not only does this make it easier to get appointments, but it also makes it easier to get referrals (remiss) to specialists or for advanced tests like MRI or CT scans.
There are even instances where people have taken advantage of loopholes in the system, such as getting free medications prescribed through doctor friends. For example, while most families pay out of pocket for mini-derm moisturizer from the pharmacy, some manage to get it prescribed for free in their children’s names and then use it for the whole family.
Some people even exploit this loophole to take extended sick leave from work when they aren’t truly ill or to obtain medical certificates from their doctors to avoid specific tasks at their job. But of course, only Englishnews.se knows about these secrets! 😊
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