The number of visits, for example, varies from 2.3 and 5.4 per child annually in child health care and between 9.7 and 31.4 per expectant mother and year in mother health care. The shortage of general practitioners has inhibited the development of primary care, and this remains a problem. There is at present a shortfall of between 500 and 700 general practitioners compared with the target set by the Riksdag of one GP per 2,000 inhabitants. The age structure of the profession is uneven, with more than half the practitioners aged over 50 and only 3 per cent under 40. The number of training opportunities for prospective GPs has been insufficient during the 1990s.
Primary care is faced with a crisis unless initiatives are taken to redress matters.
Co-operation between primary and specialist care needs to be developed so as to optimise resource utilisation and counteract unnecessary waiting list problems. Organisational models and other measures needing to be further developed and evaluated include, for example, GP consultants in hospital departments, local care agreements, improved referral routines and referral of patients to primary care when they are no longer in need of other specialist competence. Physician supply in primary care has been a political priority during the 1990s. The follow-up shows that organisational changes have produced good results and that patients are satisfied. But it also shows that availability improvements have been confined to reception work, where as the supply of GPs in medical care for the elderly and in psychiatric care has if anything deteriorated.