Revised National Budget
NOK 32 million proposed for online doctor trial
News story | Date: 15/05/2025 | Ministry of Health and Care Services
As part of the strategy to improve GP services, the government has introduced a trial scheme for online doctors. In the revised national budget, the government proposes an additional NOK 32 million to the municipalities for the trial, taking the total project allocation in 2025 to NOK 50 million.
‘Our joint health service should be everyone’s best health insurance. That's why I'm pleased that we're now securing funding to test the online doctor scheme in selected municipalities, so that people can quickly and easily have a digital consultation with a municipal GP when their regular GP is not available,’ says Minister of Health and Care Services Jan Christian Vestre.
More accessible services
The municipal online doctor scheme is a digital GP service for local populations, as a supplement to GPs and out-of-hours medical centres. The services gives you the option of a digital consultation with a municipal doctor, in cases that can be handled online, where available GP hours are not suitable.
‘The GP service is and will continue to be a cornerstone of our joint health service. The online doctor will help to make it easier for people to access GP services when they need it, for consultations that can be resolved without a physical examination. Several municipalities have told us that they are interested in trying out the online doctor scheme, and this new financial framework allows more municipalities to trial the scheme this year,’ says Vestre.
Public consultation of regulatory changes
The government initially plans to test the online doctor scheme in up to 20 municipalities. Based on the experiences of these municipalities, the government will assess if the scheme should be expanded further.
The regulatory changes required for the online doctor scheme to be trialled were on 15 May sent for a three-week public consultation (in Norwegian).