Primary health care units

Landstinget Dalarna has 33 primary health care units (vårdcentraler) constituting the base of the local health care system. As a patient you turn to your primary health care unit when you get ill and need medical assistance or advice. The most patients get sufficient treatment there and those who need further examination and highly specialized care are sent to the hospital and the specialists there.

In the primary health care units the physicians are specialists in general medicin, GP.s, and work together with district nurses, nurses giving guidance and information, assistant nurses, midwifes, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, secretarys and unit welfare officers. The GP, together with the district nurse and the assistant nurse, work in a team and have a geographically defined district. Usually containing some 1500–2000  inhabitants. The ambition is that the patient shall have his/her own doctor which promotes a confident relation and continuity in the treatment process. 70% of the population visits the primary health care unit at least once a year.