The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (Norwegian: Statens helsetilsyn, short name Helsetilsynet) is a national government institution under the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services. The name was altered from Norwegian Board of Health on 1 January 2007.
The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision is an independent supervision authority, with responsibility for general supervision of health and social services in the country, from 1 January 2010 also for child protection.[1] The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision directs the supervision authorities at the county level: the offices of the county governors, which have responsibility for supervision of social services, and the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision in the Counties, which have responsibility for supervision of health services and health care personnel.
In Norway there are many acts relating to health and social services that:
Supervision is carried out for all statutory services, including services that are provided by publicly owned hospitals, municipalities, private organizations, and health care personnel who run their own practice.
However, the supervision authorities are independent of political direction, and to a large extent decide themselves about priorities for which services to supervise and which areas supervision shall include. Priorities are decided, among other things, on the basis of information about risk and vulnerability.
The supervision authorities contribute to ensuring that:
General supervision is supervision with an overall perspective, and involves collecting, organizing and interpreting information about health and social services from the perspective of supervision. This information forms the basis for evaluating supply and quality of services.
System audits are used for supervision of health and social care institutions (municipalities, nursing homes, hospitals etc.), based on internationally accepted methodology. The institutions are investigated by reviewing documents, carrying out interviews, inspecting premises, and carrying out random checks. Conditions that are in breach of laws or regulations (nonconformities) are documented in supervision reports. The supervision authorities follow up nonconformities with the owners and management until the conditions meet the statutory requirements. Each year, the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision designates between two and four areas for countrywide supervision.
The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision in the Counties receive information about possible deficiencies in services from many sources (patients, relatives, employers, the police, the mass media). About 2 000 cases are investigated each year to determine whether there has been a breach of laws or regulations. If a breach has occurred, the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision can give an administrative reaction against the institution, in the form of instructions to correct the conditions, or an administrative reaction against health care personnel with authorization, in the form of a warning, revocation of the right to requisition medicinal products, or withdrawal of authorization.
The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision has responsibility for MedEvent – the reporting system for adverse events in specialized health services, in which reports of events that have led to, or could have led to, serious injury to patients, are collected. Hospitals have a statutory duty to report such events.
The Patients’ Rights Act gives the population many rights regarding health services. The Act covers the following:
The Social Services Act covers the duty of the municipalities to provide services for the population, such as:
Each year, the supervision authorities deal with 6000 to 8000 complaints about these services and rights.
The supervision authorities work actively to ensure that agencies that provide health and social services use available sources of information in their work with developing management systems and with improving the quality of services. These sources include: supervision reports, decisions made in individual cases, reports about adverse events, and publications of the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision.
The findings and experience gained from supervision, other sources of information and supervision methodology are available to the public. Most of this information is available on the web site www.helsetilsynet.no.
The supervision authorities are the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (the central office), the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision in the Counties, and the Offices of the County Governor.
The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision is the national supervision authority, with about 85 employees, of which 25 are lawyers, about 20 are doctors, 10-15 are other types of health care personnel, 5 to 10 are social care personnel and about 10 are social scientists.
Supervision is carried out in the counties by the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision in the Counties (supervision of health services and health care personnel) and by the Offices of the County Governor (supervision of social services).
The leader of the supervision authorities is Director General Lars E. Hanssen (Ph.D., prof.).
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