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Complaining about health services: when you do not get the help you are entitled to, or something has gone wrong

Draft, translated: translated from the Norwegian original with the help of a language model, and may contain errors. The Norwegian version is the authoritative one. See the Norwegian original →

Two routes to the County Governor (Statsforvalteren). A rights complaint when you are refused something you believe you are entitled to, and a supervisory case when you think health personnel or a service has failed. How to do it, and the four-week deadline.

Norwegian original last checked against official sources: 14 October 2026. Rules and figures change, so always check the official site before you act.

If you are unhappy with the health care you or someone close to you has received, there are two different routes. It helps to know which one fits, because they are about different things.

Rights complaint (rettighetsklage): you have been refused something you believe you are entitled to, for example a service from the municipality or an assessment at the hospital.
Supervisory case (tilsynssak): you think health personnel or a service did something wrong, for example wrong treatment, the wrong medicine or dose, or that you were discharged too early.

If you want compensation for an injury, there is a third route: patient injury and NPE.

Start by raising it with the place of treatment

Helsenorge recommends that you first talk to the person or place that treated you. Many cases are resolved there. If it concerns your GP, you can book an appointment and say it is about a complaint.

Rights complaint: when you have been refused

According to Helsenorge, you send a rights complaint if you have been refused something you believe you are entitled to.

Send the complaint to the place of treatment you are complaining about, not directly to the County Governor. Many hospitals have an online complaint form.
Write your name, address and phone number, which service or place you are complaining about (at a hospital: clinic, department or ward), and briefly and concretely what you did not get, and when.
If the place of treatment agrees, it changes its decision. If it disagrees, the complaint is automatically sent on to the County Governor, who decides the case and replies to you by letter.

The deadline is four weeks after you got, or should have got, enough knowledge to complain (Patients' and Users' Rights Act § 7-5). If you have received a formal decision, the deadline is stated in it.

Supervisory case: when something has gone wrong

If you think health personnel or a service has breached their duties, and that it has affected you, you can ask the County Governor to assess the matter and open a supervisory case. The law sets no deadline for this, but it is easier to find out what happened while it is fresh.

Write who or what you are complaining about (the service, the department, or the name and position of the health worker), and a detailed description of what happened, with time and place.
Send it to the County Governor in your county, preferably by secure message via the contact page on statsforvalteren.no. It is faster than a letter. Do not send health information by ordinary e-mail.
You will get confirmation that the case has been received, and an answer when it has been processed.

Next of kin of a patient who has died, or of an adult patient who cannot make decisions, have the same right to ask for supervision. If you complain on behalf of someone else, enclose a power of attorney.

Good to know: A supervisory case is about finding out whether something was wrong, and preventing it from happening again. According to Helsenorge, it does not automatically give you the right to new treatment or compensation. If the County Governor finds grounds for action against health personnel, the case goes on to the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (Statens helsetilsyn).

You do not have to do this alone

The Patient and User Ombudsman (Pasient- og brukerombudet) in your county is free, and helps you with questions about your rights and with writing the complaint. If you are unsure where to turn, the ombudsman is a good place to start.

Tip: Ask to see your medical record before you complain, so you can see what has been written. Read access to your medical record. Write down what happened while you remember it, and keep letters and decisions.

Sources

Kontaktpunkt24 gives general information, not legal advice. If you need help with your own case, contact a lawyer, a legal aid service, or the relevant authority.

This page is translated from Norwegian with the help of a language model, and may contain errors. The Norwegian version is always the authoritative one.