This section leads you through how to handle medical situations starting with the most urgent and working down to slight niggles. Further information on acute emergencies is also available here.

Swedish hospitals are well run and doctors and nurses have a high standard of training – many have trained internationally and most will speak English to a certain degree. As mentioned before, the health system is no longer as well funded as it once was and Sweden has been going through a process of centralising hospital care so many of the smaller, ‘friendlier’ hospitals have been closed in favour of super hospitals. This also means that some of the smaller hospitals no longer offer a full range of services for example, not all hospitals have accident and emergency care. If you can, find out where your local hospitals are and what services they offer before you need them – it may make life easier when the situation is more pressured.

One of the biggest differences you may notice in how you are dealt with is that much of the contact may be less personal than you are used to. You may feel you are not seen as a person but as a case with carers making little attempt to understand how you are feeling and more to diagnose and solve your illness. If you do want more emotional support and the opportunity to talk about your feelings, do try – many doctors and nurses will be very sympathetic, they just don’t want to impose on you if you don’t want to discuss them.