[From spas and convalescent homes to retraining institutions]

The traditional types of health care institutions, the spas and convalescence homes, were reorganised in Norway in 1992 to become retraining units group I and group II. The new regulations demanded that the institutions should upgrade and strengthen their treatment facilities. The physician in charge of group I institutions has to have rheumatological or physical medical qualifications, and the institution itself has to have sufficient nursing and other medical staff to be able to treat patients in need of a higher level of therapy than required by patients at group II institutions. A survey of the institutions concludes that most of them now conform with the new regulations.