Health and Work is an extension of the employment-oriented treatment services provided by the specialist health service following the reorganisation of the "Raskere tilbake” (“Recover faster”) scheme in 2018. The purpose of work-oriented treatment is to promote better health and work capacity, and improve job coping skills and quality of life.
Target group
Health and Work is a service aimed at those who have dropped out of employment, education or school, or who are considering dropping out. The aim of the service is to enable those who are referred to the service to find employment again more easily.
The service is also aimed at those who are at risk of going on sick leave, where the goal then becomes avoiding the sick leave. The service is also available to those who are seeking to improve their study life.
Health and Work is mainly aimed at people with mental disorders (anxiety, depression) and musculoskeletal disorders. The service is part of the public health service, and a strong partnership with NAV, your general practitioner (GP) and any employer will be vital.
A normal user fee will be payable, up to the limit for exemption cards. Your travel expenses will be refunded in the same way as with the rest of the specialist health service.
You will need a referral
The services mainly comprise work-oriented treatment at outpatient clinics for patients with musculoskeletal disorders, and work-focused individual outpatient treatment of patients with mental disorders.
You will be referred to Health and Work by your GP, hospital doctor, chiropractor or manual therapist. If you are referred, you will be referred to the specialist health service in the same way as all other patient groups.
The referral must state the following:
- The issue concerned
- Employment circumstances
- Sick leave status
- Any previous investigations/treatment
- Previous work-oriented measures that have been tried
- Your telephone number
Work-oriented rehabilitation takes place in the form of outpatient consultations, as a day service or as a 24-hour service. The referral will be sent directly to the rehabilitation centre, which will then carry out an entitlement assessment.
See the relevant service for details of where the referral must be sent.
Find a service
You have the right to choose the treatment centre where your planned medical assessment or treatment will be carried out. The treatments that are available are provided by the hospitals and some private providers.
See more information about the Health and Work service in each health region (in Norwegian):