Halsnæs attracts two new doctors after years of shortages

Halsnæs Municipality, where patients have faced long waits and a shortage of general practitioners for years, has attracted two new doctors, DR reports.

Anja Østergaard is moving from a medical practice on Frederiksberg to Hundested, where she will open her own practice in March 2027 and move with her family. The second doctor will join an existing practice in Frederiksværk.

Halsnæs has long ranked among the Danish municipalities with the lowest GP coverage. There are currently 19 general practitioners in the municipality, according to a count by sundhed.dk.

Østergaard said she expects to see more elderly and unwell patients than she did on Frederiksberg, where many of her patients were healthy students. She thinks she may need to spend more time with each patient. One concern about running her own practice, she said, is finding cover during holidays and time to attend professional development courses.

Local resident Ib Damm-Ottesen helped persuade Østergaard to move to Hundested and find premises for the new practice. Lau Kæstel Jørgensen, who has recently moved to Halsnæs and worked as a commercial fisherman in the town for the past two years, said he had been unable to get help at the local clinic after suffering internal bleeding in a work-related accident because staff did not have time. He said the town urgently needed another doctor.

Vibeke Hjorth Hansen welcomed the news, saying she had heard that some newcomers had been unable to register with a GP in Hundested because of the shortage. She said she had not experienced the problem herself because her health was good.