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Settling in Sweden

Vårdcentralen / 1177

Seeing a doctor

The vårdcentral, 1177, and how to describe a symptom in Swedish.

Step 1, free to read

The vårdcentral is the front door

For anything that is not an emergency, care starts at a vårdcentral — a primary care centre with GPs, nurses and often a physiotherapist. You choose one and list yourself with it (lista dig); you may change later. Turning up at a hospital emergency department with a sore throat is not how the system is used, and you will usually be sent back.

  1. Step 2: 1177 before anything else
  2. Step 3: Booking, and what they ask
  3. Step 4: Describing the symptom
  4. Step 5: After the appointment

Finish this path with Svenska Plus

  • Why the vårdcentral comes before the hospital, and what listing yourself means
  • 1177 for advice, 112 for an emergency, and the line between them
  • Booking by phone: the four questions you will be asked
  • 13 phrases for describing pain, duration and allergies
  • The words on the referral, the prescription and the receipt

13 Swedish phrases · 12 words off the real forms · 4 practice items

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Every path, the tutor and the mock exams. No account needed to pay. Refunded in full if you have not used it in your first thirty days. Everything in Plus