There are six new permanent doctors here. Hundreds of places are available in Bergen.

At first there were thousands of vacant places. Then it was zero. Now the lists will open again immediately.

On Monday morning, over 3,000 Bergen residents had the chance to secure a GP, or change from the one they have.

A new medical center is now opening in Solheimsviken, with six GPs in the stable.

At 08.30 all the doctors had hundreds of free places. But at 08.45 all the lists were suddenly full.

– There was a kink in the system, and the lists were therefore closed, says Magnus Myntevik, doctor and manager at the new centre.

He further says that the lists will open again soon, and that there will still be many vacant places.

At 11.37, Myntevik wrote in a text message to BT that the websites are up and running, and that it is now possible to secure a place again.

The medical centre, called VIMS Allmennleger AS, has been planned for two years. It is located in Motorhallen, and Bergen Municipality announced the opening of the new center on its website last week.

– We are ready to take in patients who have been waiting a long time to be allocated a GP, Myntevik said then.

In addition to six doctors, two nurses, health secretaries, a nutritionist and a psychologist will be based at the centre.

Heavy workload

The GP crisis has been a reality in Bergen for several years. There have been almost no vacancies on the lists in recent years, and some have had to wait for months to get a GP in Bergen.

The challenge is compound. Two years ago, BT reported that three out of four GPs had considered quitting their jobs, according to a survey by Deloitte.

The workload was one of the reasons mentioned in the report. Almost half of the GPs answered that they were unable to carry out their duties as a GP. Only four percent answered that they had enough time for the patients.

In addition, there are challenges with recruiting. A quarter of the GPs in Bergen were over 60 in 2022.

Must recruit 88 doctors

According to the strategy for the GP scheme, which is a strategy Bergen municipality has drawn up and is working towards, 88 new GPs must be recruited in the municipality over the next five years.

Several measures have been tried to remedy the problem. At one point last year, 900 people lacked a GP in Bergen. Several doctors then expanded their lists so that more people would have a GP.