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– Our aim is to explore how society and healthcare professionals can help reduce barriers to accessing healthcare services, and ensure that patients receive the care they need when they need it, says Professor Anne Kveim Lie at the Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, UiO.
A D-number is an identification number assigned to individuals who are not registered as residents in Norway. Many people with D-numbers are entitled to a wide range of healthcare services, but are not eligible to register with a regular GP.
– A Fafo-report published last year showed that many people continuetohaveaD-number for years, even though they work primarily in Norway and pay most of their taxes here. Experiences from municipal services and voluntary organisations, as well as findings documented in the Fafo-report, indicate that many people in this group do not receive the healthcare they need and are entitled to, Kveim Lie explains.
Evaluation after 15 months
A key component of the Research Council of Norway-funded BRIDGE project is the establishment of a GP service specifically for labour migrants with D-numbers. This will allow researchers to examine how such a service works in practice. The GP practice will remain open for 15 months.
–After 15 months, the service will close, and we will begin analysing the results. We will share our findings with ourpartner organisations and policymakers, says Kveim Lie, adding:
–Our hope is that this will help improve access to healthcare for all mobile labour migrants in the future.
Open one day a week
The new GP practice, located near Carl Berners plass in Oslo, will be open one day a week, on Thursdays. It will be operated by Bjølsen Medical Centre and staffed by a doctor and a healthcare secretary.
–In addition, researchers from the BRIDGE project will be present to talk to anyone who wishes to speak with us, Kveim Lie explains.
Patients who wish to book an appointment can contact the clinic in advance or come by without an appointment.
– Our partner organisations, which provide low-threshold services for this group in Oslo, have also received brochures with information about the clinic to distribute to their users.
Read more about the BRIDGE project here: Bridging the health care gap: Improving access for temporary labour migrants in Norway
See photos from inside the clinic on the project's LinkedIn page.
Information Brochure
- Brochure Norwegian (pdf)
- Brochure English (pdf)
- Brochure Polish (pdf)
- Brochure Romanian (pdf)
- Brochure Spanish (pdf)