General Appointments
Most doctors will have a weekday telephone time – normally first thing in the morning. They will offer advice and arrange an appointment time. It can be difficult to get through on the phone so it pays to be persistent. Outside this time, it is possible to leave a message for your doctor and if you leave the message during their normal opening hours, you should expect them to return the call that day. It is also common to ring directly to your doctor to make an appointment. Many Vårdcentrals do not employ receptionists so it may be quicker to go in person to book an appointment.

Urgent Cases
There is likely to be a daily time at your Vårdcentral when a drop-in clinic is available for ‘urgent cases’ (akuta besvär). If you have had problems getting through on the phone, or the waiting time for an appointment is too long, go to this session. At these clinics, you probably need to sign a list under your doctor’s name so they know which order to call you in and you should be prepared to wait anything up to a couple of hours.

Alternatively you may need to ring a special number to book a time for that day, in which case you will be screened to determine if your case is urgent enough. If not you will be advised to ring your doctor to book a time. Otherwise you will be given a time some time that day. The lines are generally open from 8am and the earlier you ring the more likely you will get a time on the day. Note that you can only ring this number for an immediate appointment, they will not give you a time later in the week.

If your doctor is not going to be working that day, there should be a notice directing you to their cover doctor. If your clinic does not run emergency drop-in sessions and the waiting time for an appointment is too long, you need to visit your local emergency ward (närakut).

As mentioned above, most Vårdcentrals do not open evenings or weekends so you would then need to visit either a närakut or a hospital emergency room. It is possible to drop-in to either but you can expect long waiting times and so it is best to ring in advance to arrange a time. Ask for more information on out of hours cover the first time you visit your doctor.

Clinics can also arrange home visits for those too sick to visit the clinic. You will need to ring them during their open telephone times to arrange this.