There is a GP crisis and the waiting lists are piling up with patients. In August, at least 175,000 Norwegians were without a GP. And it is the female GPs who are the most popular, according to figures news has received from the Directorate of Health. At the end of October, female GPs had a median of 61 people on the waiting list. At the same time, there were 38 male GPs on the list. The female doctors therefore had more than 60 per cent more people queuing up to get them as GPs. Intimate examinations and pregnancy Patients news has spoken to who prefer to have female GPs are usually women themselves. Several of them highlight gynecological examinations as something they would most like to do with a woman: MM: I have a female GP, and would also like to have one as I feel more comfortable with a woman if there is a need for intimate examinations. Women also go to the doctor more often than men, figures from Statistics Norway show. In 2021, women in their 20s went to the doctor twice as often as men in the same age group. LL: I have a female GP my own age. I think it’s more comfortable for me, I’m pregnant and there are tests I prefer a woman to do, at the same time I think you understand each other better since she was also pregnant not so long ago. Don’t you think there is a lack of knowledge? Marte Kvittum Tangen is chairman of the Norwegian Association for General Medicine, which works for general – or fixed – professional development. – There is no basis for saying that male GPs know too little about women’s health. In general, we have less knowledge about women’s health than about men’s, but I believe more in other explanations, she says. Tangen believes that women need to go to the GP much earlier in life than men, and that at an earlier age they become aware of what gender they want the doctor to be. Tangen thinks there are many explanations for the phenomenon, but she doesn’t think her male colleagues have any knowledge about women’s health. Photo: Thomas B Eckhoff / Den norske legeforening She also points to contraception, pregnancy, childbirth and gynecological examinations as absolutely central. – These are investigations and issues that can often be difficult to talk about, and many people then find that it is easier to talk to someone of the same sex, says Tangen. She also says that female GPs on average have fewer patients on their lists than their male colleagues, and that this may help to explain the longer queues. – If we think that all men want men and women want women, then there will still be longer waiting lists for women, because they have fewer places, she says. Are women more empathetic? Of the 15 GPs in Ålesund with the longest waiting list, 14 of them are women. One of them Ingeborg Olga Salen Relling. – There are many empathetic men, but perhaps women are a little more empathetic? We are used to talking more, at least many of us, says Relling. She also believes that it is things like gynecological examinations that cause women like her to have long waiting lists. In their 20s and early 30s, women are encouraged to have a cervical smear every three years. Several gynecological examinations can be carried out at the GP’s office rather than at the gynaecologist’s, where the waiting lists are often longer. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news – A GP must follow you and you must trust them. You have to feel a certain chemistry and think that someone cares. I think that is important regardless of whether you are a woman or a man, says Relling. – Is it a problem that fewer people want your male colleagues as GPs? – No, because I don’t think they experience it. It is simply because there is a bit of a doctor shortage. Now the problem is that people cannot find a GP. – My male colleagues are good, so it’s not about that, says Relling. The Ministry of Health and Welfare does not wish to comment on the case.
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Female GPs have a 60 per cent longer waiting list than male GPs – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
