A few years ago my friend discovered a black spot on her skin. She went to the clinic (vårdcentralen) and showed it to the doctor there. The doctor told her to wait and see if it would disappear on its own. A couple of weeks later, the spot was still there and she asked me to go to the clinic with her and yell at the doc a little. I went and I yelled. My friend got a referral (en remiss) to a specialist at the hospital (sjukhuset). The hospital sent her a letter saying that the earliest available appointment they had was about 8 months away.
We returned to vårdcentralen to yell at the doc some more. Finally, she said, “a new private dermatology practice just opened, why don’t you go there?” I wanted to know why she didn’t tell us that a few weeks ago during the first visit. “You didn’t ask,” she answered.
To make a long story short – my friend went to the private clinic, had a biopsy, turned out the spot was malignant, was admitted to the hospital and had it removed. She’s been cancer free ever since. I shudder at the thought of what might have happened if she had waited the initial 8 months for her appointment at the hospital skin clinic.
So, when last week I noticed something weird on my skin, I didn’t even bother with vårdcentralen, I called straight to the private practice and got my appointment immediately.
Wow! How the place has grown since the last time I was there. Now they’re giving the public hospital some serious competition.
Apart from a dermatologist (en dermatolog, hudläkare), they also have a regular surgeon (en allmänkirurg), an orthopedist (en ortoped), plastic/cosmetic surgeons (plastikkirurger), their own anesthesiologists (narkosläkare) and a whole slew of nurses (sköterskor). It’s a tiny private hospital they’ve got over there.
Now, in addition to a strictly private practice (like cosmetic surgery), they also accept regular and private insurance and referrals from doctors at vårdcentraler. This is what I call progress!
To provide a point of reference, my dearly beloved also had to see a doctor today. He got a referral for gastroscopy (gastroskopi), the poor thing… And the wait time at the hospital? 6 weeks… Let’s hope it’s nothing serious and he can survive. Technically, we have a 30 day guarantee to see a specialist, but in reality (and depending on what king of doctor you need), it may not happen.
The long waiting times to see specialist doctors are a very common problem in Sweden. In bigger cities, where there are more private clinics, the patients at least have options. In smaller towns, it may mean the difference between life and death. You think I’m exaggerating? Not so. Even the government decided it was time to finally do something about it. Here is what The Local wrote about it (in English) back in September, and here is a more recent article (in Swedish) from a local newspaper in Östersund.
And as for me, I’ll have my results next week. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.
image: Landstinget i Östergötland
