Contemporary international migration patterns are shifting toward more transient and highly mobile forms of movement, often involving temporary or short-term stays. In parallel, the number of people residing and participating in the Norwegian labour market without a Norwegian national identification number (fødselsnummer) appears to be increasing.
The project both investigates the history of personal and temporary identification numbers and technologies of exclusion in the Norwegian health system through archival studies and ethnographic methods, and develops a complex intervention that establishes a GP service for D-number patients in Oslo and measures both clinical and health service use outcomes.
The project works in close collaboration with migrants with D-number and organsations providing services to them. We combine methods and perspectives from medicine, social sciences, the humanities, and intervention research and the project is strongly grounded in understandings of historical, legal, and structural conditions that shape migrants’ access to healthcare in Norway.
The project will use information from the Norwegian Registry for Primary Health Care (KPR) on individuals with a D-number who have used medical services in Norway during the period 2023-2025. If you held a D-number and used medical services in Norway during this period, and you do not want your information to be used in the project, please contact: frode.eick@medisin.uio.no.
Objectives
Primary objective: to develop a sustainable and scalable model for access to health services for vulnerable patient groups with D-number
Secondary objectives:
1) To provide new knowledge on whether a General Practitioner function, designed and implemented in collaboration with Oslo municipality, healthcare professionals and the target group, can improve health outcomes and create better and more sustainable healthcare services for D-number patients with complex and/or chronic conditions.
2) To investigate the historical background of and the current healthcare access challenges faced by seasonal labour migrants and transmigrants in Norway.
3) To comprehensively map and analyse challenges and barriers preventing D- number patients from accessing quality and continuity of healthcare in Oslo.
4) To create and disseminate digital informational materials for healthcare professionals and seasonal and target group.
5) To establish a strong network of clinicians, health service providers and administrators, researchers and user experts working with transient migration and health in Oslo and beyond.
Outcomes
We plan to disseminate findings through academic papers and reports. In addition, we will create digital information materials for healthcare professionals and temporary labour migrants.
Sub Projects
WP1: The history of personal and temporary identification numbers and technologies of exclusion in the Norwegian health system
WP 2: Mapping experiences with and access to care, for D-number patients with chronic diseases.
WP 3: Design and implementation of the intervention
WP 4: Clinical research and analysis of healthcare utilization.
WP 5: Producing informational and educational material (2029-2030).
Background
Over the last ten years, Oslo Health Agency (Helseteaten), clinicians, and migration and health researchers have observed an increasing number of patients without Norwegian national identification number (Fødselsnummer) that suffer from lack of proper healthcare in Oslo. This is especially critical for people with chronic or complex health problems. Somatic and psychiatric emergency wards in Oslo report that they are seeing more patients with D-numbers who lack follow-up, continuity, and stable treatment. Today, people with a D-number do not have access to a general practitioner (fastlege), which is the backbone of Norwegian primary healthcare. A large part of this group are transient labour migrants from EU countries. Their everyday lives and working conditions are often unstable, and the reasons why they fall outside ordinary health services are complex and not fully understood.
