Swedish health services strive to provide good health and medical care for the entire population. Örebro County Council works accordingly, the residents of the county are entitled to good health care that meets everyone’s specific needs.

The County Council’s aim is to eradicate differences in health based on gender, class and ethnic origin. Health care shall be readily available and all patients shall have the right to receive appropriate and respectful treatment.

Local primary care centres

Örebro County has 29 primary care centres, some run by sub-contractors. Each municipality has at least one such centre. Doctors at the centres are specialists in general medicine and experienced in dealing with most conditions, but if necessary, they can refer a patient to a specialist at a hospital. District nurses, child health care, midwives and physiotherapy, social workers and psychologists are also available at primary care centres as well as special youth family planning clinics where teenagers can get advice and help.

Health care telephone advice

1177 is a health care advisory telephone service, working as a complement to the primary care centres. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Experienced district nurses answer the calls and provide medical information and advice about self-care. They also assess whether the patient need to contact a doctor.

The county’s hospitals

Specialists care, such as surgery or treatments, is provided at three hospitals in Örebro County: Örebro University Hospital (USÖ), Karlskoga Hospital and Lindesberg Hospital.

Örebro University Hospital (USÖ) is one of eight University hospitals in Sweden and a centre for highly specialized care, provided to patients from Örebro County as well as to patients from the rest of the country.

The hospitals in Karlskoga and Lindesberg primarily provide specialist care to residents in their catchment areas, but they work together with USÖ in various ways. All three hospitals have accident and emergency departments open 24 hours a day.

Services for the disabled

Those who in different ways have difficulties in coping with everyday life are provided services by the municipalities, who give support in day-to-day living. The County Council provides health care and treatment, supplies assistive technology for people with physical disabilities, learning difficulties and various communication difficulties such as blindness or impaired vision, deafness or hearing impairments. The Council also runs an interpretation centre for the deaf, adult deaf and deaf-blind.

Care of the elderly

The responsibility for provision of good health care to the elderly is shared by the county’s municipalities and the County Council. Municipal nurses and occupational therapists, County Council doctors and physiotherapists at primary care centres are responsible for different treatment measures.

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is part of the County Councils specialist health care. Primary care services are responsible for initial care of patients, but if the problems become severe, the patient is referred to the County Council’s specialist psychiatric services.

Besides general psychiatry Örebro County Council’s services have psychiatric units for children and young people, addiction problems, forensic psychiatry and psychosis care. There are also teams working on special areas such as crisis and trauma clinics and teams for the deaf and hearing impaired.

Health Care guarantee

The Council’s aim is to increase access to health services in order to meet patient demands for shorter waiting time. Patients with urgent conditions are always treated directly. Planned operations or treatments are subject to a guarantee for maximum waiting time that applies throughout Sweden.

This guarantee states the number of days within which the patient is to be offered planned medical care. The number of days varies, depending on the treatment that the patient needs, but nobody should have to wait more than three months for a planned operation or treatment. If the County Council cannot manage this, the patient is offered treatment by another care provider.

Lifestyle and health promotion work

Our habits regarding diet, exercise, stress, sleep, tobacco and alcohol has a significant impact on our wellbeing. This is why the County Council is focusing on maternity care, pediatric care, stop-smoking groups, weight loss and exercise groups. The County Council also provides financial assistance to sports and exercise activities that contribute to people’s better health.