Your rights

As a patient, you are protected by law and the obligations imposed on Region Västra Götaland. Here you will find information about your rights within the healthcare system.

Patient Act

On January 1, 2015, a new act came into effect covering you as a patient.

Patients’ Advisory Committee

The Patients’ Advisory Committee can help you with information and act as a link in the contact between you and the care staff. The Patients’ Advisory Committee is totally independent of the healthcare system and is subject to a duty of confidentiality.

Your fee will be refunded if you have waited more than 30 minutes

If you have an appointment at a care unit at Skaraborg Hospital, you should not need to wait more than 30 minutes after the appointed time. If you need to wait longer, you are entitled to have your patient fee refunded and still receive the care and treatment you have ordered. This does not apply, for example, to emergency visits to the Accident and Emergency Unit.

A patient fee refund can only be made during the visit in question and cannot take place at a later date.

Right to equal care

Care should be equal. Where you were born, how long you attended school, and how much money you have, should not make any difference. In your contact with the care system, you are entitled to receive good health care, regardless of your gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic affiliation, age, functional ability, social position, home area or education.

Views and complaints

Your experiences in the care system are an important source of information for us in our effort to improve the work we do. There are several different bodies that you can turn to if you have views and opinions on our care provision.

Interpreter

If you do not speak Swedish, you are entitled to an interpreter during your hospital visit. The interpreter is bound by a duty of confidentiality and is not permitted to pass on information about you without your approval.

Contact the healthcare staff if you require an interpreter.

Privacy and duty of confidentiality

In your contact with the healthcare system, it is important that you have confidence in the staff you meet. For this reason, everyone who works in the healthcare system is subject to a duty of confidentiality.

This means that no one in the healthcare system is permitted to pass on information about you without your approval.

In the healthcare system, the same confidentiality protection applies to all patients, regardless of whether you are entitled to be in Sweden or not.

Freedom of choice

You are entitled to choose where you wish to seek care throughout the whole of the Västra Götaland region and Halland. Region Västra Götaland and Halland County Council have a special collaboration agreement that means that residents in Västra Götaland and Halland can seek care in the two county council areas subject to the same terms and conditions.

Healthcare guarantee

You are entitled to be given an appointment to visit the hospital and be treated within a certain period of time. The healthcare guarantee applies to all planned care. Emergency care is not covered by the healthcare guarantee. If you suddenly fall ill or are injured, you will receive care as soon as possible.