Norway introduced its Regular GP Scheme in 2001. This gives all citizens the right to choose a GP in their home municipality and facilitates personal continuity between the doctor and the patient. These types of long-term doctor-patient relationships are associated with reduced use of emergency health services and lower mortality , both internationally and in Norway.
A widely discussed Norwegian study from 2022 showed that patients who had the same GP for more than fifteen years had a 25% lower risk of dying compared to patients who had the same GP for one year or less. However, there has been an increasing shortage of GPs in recent years. As of July 2024, just over 188,000 people in Norway do not have a regular GP, representing almost 3.
5% of the country's population. Since long-term doctor-patient relationships appear to be more beneficial than short-term ones, the assumption can be made that losing your regular GP could be detrimental. You would end up in a group of people who have only known their GP for a short period of time.
However, many factors influence the contact and length of relationship with a GP, such as age, gender and health issues, as well as the fact that people can choose to change their GP up to twice a year. These are traits and trends that are also related to health, health care use and mortality. It can therefore be difficult to distinguish the effect of a long-term doctor-patient relationship from the effect of other factors related to the patient.
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