According to the Act on the Status and Rights of Patients, the aim must be to treat patients in mutual understanding, when selecting the provider of specialised medical care, for example. The attending doctor or dentist will determine your need for care and decide on whether or not to draw up a referral. You are always entitled to choose the hospital where you wish to be treated.
However, you may not seek treatment at a hospital if your illness can be treated in primary healthcare. You will also be unable to seek treatment at a university central hospital if your illness does not require that level of treatment. During the last few years, the division of work in specialised medical care has been reformed, and some treatments and procedures have been centralised to specific hospitals. You will be unable to register as a client at a hospital where the required examination or treatment is not available.
The doctor's role is to serve as your advisor in the questions related to the selection of your place of treatment. For example, they can provide information on whether the hospital you have selected provides the treatment in question and how long the current waiting list is. However, in selecting a place of treatment the patient's right to choose is the primary defining factor if the treatment can realistically be provided in the facility requested by the patient.