Your rights, choices, and opportunities

On helsenorge.no, you will find an overview of treatment locations and can compare waiting times for assessment and treatment. Through a guide, you will receive information on what you need to do to change treatment location.​​​

Read more about free choice of treatment​​​

If you require long-term and coordinated services from the public sector, you have the right to an individual plan. If this is relevant in your case – and you wish for it – the hospital shall take the initiative to address this with your local authority or district. The plan should ensure your involvement in treatment and rehabilitation, and that all parties involved collaborate. You should also be informed of the results of these assessments.

One of the service providers shall be appointed as the coordinator, who will ensure the necessary follow-up for each patient or user.

​​Read more about the individual plan and coordinator (helsenorge.no)

If you are travelling to or from publicly approved treatment, you are entitled to have necessary travel expenses covered. Generally, the cheapest mode of transport will be reimbursed, and you will need to pay a co-payment.
Read more about patient travel​

Health and Social Services Ombudsman shall work to safeguard the needs, interests, and legal rights of patients and users in relation to health services and social services, and to improve the quality of these services. The Ombudsman can provide advice, guidance, and information about your rights as a patient, user, or relative. Health and Social Services Ombudsman can also assist in formulating and forwarding questions or complaints to the appropriate authority. If you have had experiences in health and social services that you wish to address, you can contact the Health and Social Services Ombudsman in the county where you reside. Read more about Health and Social Services Ombudsman (helsenorge.no)

Healthcare Personnel

As a patient, you have the right to participate in the selection and implementation of healthcare, and your wishes and needs should be taken seriously. However, this does not grant you the right to refuse healthcare personnel based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, religion, or belief, in accordance with the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act (§ 6 and § 7) and the Patient and User Rights Act (§ 3-1 and § 3-2).

Students

Ahus is an educational institution where you may encounter students in training. You can opt out of having students present or participating in your treatment.

Please inform the staff if you wish to opt out of this.

In certain cases, you as a patient may wish to have your health condition reassessed by another specialist or at a different hospital. To obtain such a renewed assessment, you must visit your general practitioner, who will send a new referral to the specialist healthcare service. A renewed assessment applies only once for the same condition. You can choose which location it should be sent to, in accordance with the right to free choice of treatment. Read more about the right to a new assessment (helsenorge.no)

Our information to you should be tailored to your individual circumstances, such as age, maturity, experience, culture, and language. We will, as far as possible, ensure that you have understood the content and significance of all the information you receive. Please ask us for interpreting assistance if needed.

The hospital receives referrals, which are to be assessed continuously and no later than 10 working days after the referral has been received by us. Based on this, the hospital (specialist health services) will determine whether you are entitled to necessary healthcare or not. The response from the hospital will either be that you are granted such a right or that you are not considered to have a need for healthcare in the specialist health services (rejection). If you are granted such a right, the letter will specify the deadline set for the latest commencement of healthcare. If this deadline is exceeded, a breach of the deadline has occurred. Examples of what healthcare in the specialist health services may include: - surgical procedures - medical investigations - treatment at a psychiatric outpatient clinic - treatment in a substance abuse institution If you disagree with the assessment or the deadline you have received from the specialist health services, you may request that your referral be reassessed (renewed assessment). Read more about the right to assessment and necessary healthcare

If you have a serious illness that requires treatment or follow-up over a certain period, you may be entitled to be assigned a contact doctor in the specialist healthcare service.

Read more about the right to a contact doctor (helsenorge.no)

Patients and relatives have rights regarding travel and accommodation expenses, meal allowances, and training allowances for group training initiatives. Patients and relatives also have the right to choose their place of treatment.

Read more about rights in patient and relative education

Shared decision-making is a process where you, together with healthcare professionals, determine and make decisions about which safe and available treatments are best for you.

Patients who cannot receive necessary treatment in Norway may be entitled to treatment abroad.​

Read more about treatment abroad

Summary Care Record (Kjernejournal) provides healthcare professionals with quick access to selected and important health information about you, regardless of where you receive treatment. Both you as a citizen and healthcare professionals have access to the information in this service.​

Summary Care Record (helsenorge.no)

You have the right to access your medical records and to receive copies of all documents in your records. You also have the right to restrict healthcare personnel's access to your patient records, as well as to obtain a log of who has accessed your records. Read more about accessing your patient records
Read more about how you can restrict access to your patient records

Children have the same health rights as adults. The legal age for health authority is 16 years. This means that when the patient is under 16 years old, it is the parents or those with parental responsibility who represent the child.

Read more about children's rights (helsenorge.no)

Children and young people often pick up more than adults realise and are affected when caregivers, parents, or siblings are ill. Children need openness; they need you to talk about what is happening and how it feels.

Children and young people as relatives

A hospital registers, processes, and stores a significant amount of personal data, both to provide healthcare and for research purposes. The hospital is obliged to fulfil patients' statutory privacy rights.

​Read more about privacy​​

The health and care services in the municipality and at hospitals are obliged to offer you, as a patient, user, or relative, a meeting when very serious incidents involving the patient or user have occurred.

Read more about the right to a meeting after a serious incident

Have you received an invoice from us that you believe has an error? In such cases, you must contact the department that sent you the invoice. You will find the contact information on the invoice.

You have the right to complain if you believe that your rights as a patient have not been fulfilled, or if you have not received the health or care services you are entitled to. Relatives may also have the right to complain.

Read more about complaints and compensation

When you have been given a deadline for healthcare and have not received the healthcare within this deadline, you have the right to receive an alternative treatment offer.​

Read more about deadline breaches​

A hospital registers, processes, and stores a significant amount of personal data, both to provide healthcare and for research purposes. On its own websites and on helsenorge.no, you can read more about medical research, participation, and the use of your information in research, as well as how to opt out of the use of biological material for research.

You can opt out of having your biological material collected in the healthcare system used for research. You can opt out by filling in the opt-out form, which you can find on the Norwegian Institute of Public Health's website.

​Read about your right to opt out of the use of biological material​ (fhi.no)​

Clinical trials, or experimental treatments, are studies conducted on humans to investigate the effects of medications or other treatment methods, as well as to examine how drugs are metabolised in the body and whether the side effects are acceptable.​​

Terms and rights regarding participation in clinical trials
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Patients and users have the right to participate, and healthcare personnel have a duty to involve the patient and user in examination, treatment, and the choice of service offerings. Read more about user participation.

You will have part of your expenses covered for treatment by a doctor, at a outpatient clinic, or other treatment institutions, but you must pay a co-payment. You will receive a exemption card for health services once you have paid over a certain amount in co-payments. There are different co-payments depending on the type of health service. Read more about co-payments and exemption cards

Asylum seekers and refugees in Norway have the right to healthcare for physical and mental ailments, substance abuse issues, and dental treatment.​

Read more about healthcare for asylum seekers and refugees here (helsenorge.no)​​​​

If you are a patient at Ahus and a student in primary or secondary school, you have the right to education during the time you are admitted to a health institution, whether for a full day or on a day basis. Lørenskog Secondary School currently operates two school departments at Ahus: the hospital school at the Child and Adolescent Clinic (BUK) and the UK School at the Adolescent Psychiatric Clinic (UK).

For those over 18

Patients over 18 years old associated with other departments receive teaching in suitable rooms within the respective department, or in their patient room if it is in the best interest of you as a patient.

We offer instruction in all core subjects in primary school and common subjects in secondary school. We can also facilitate training in certain programme subjects. The educational provision takes into account your health and treatment process.

Read about the educational provision

The School at Ahus - Lørenskog Secondary School (afk.no)

Contact Information

An autopsy is a thorough external and internal examination of the body after death. The purpose of an autopsy is to gain an understanding of the cause of death and the sequence of events that led to it.

Read more about autopsy

Healthcare professionals are bound by confidentiality and cannot disclose health information about you to others unless you have given consent, or it is mandated by law, such as when it is necessary to ensure proper healthcare. On helsenorge.no, you can read more about the protection of your health information, exceptions, and breaches of confidentiality.
Read more about confidentiality (helsenorge.no)​

Our hospitals meet the requirements for universal design, ensuring that, among other things, our lobbies and waiting rooms provide equal accessibility for all.