The Architects' Forum for Health Care Building is the only Norwegian organization of architects specializing in hospital design. At present we have 100 members. Almost all our members are also members of the Norwegian Architects' Association (NAL). Non-architects can be voted members of the Forum.

We are one out of three fora for professionals within The Norwegian Hospital and Health Service Association (NHSSA). The NHSSA have as it's members hospitals, other health care institutions, research institutions within health care services research, regional health trusts, etc.

The Forum, which was founded Feb 1st 1972, has up to now concentrated its efforts on hospital facilities. Our goal is keeping our members updated in the hospital planning field. Our main activity is arranging a yearly international hospital study visit. Each year, we co-arrange a hospital planning conference with the NHSSA and/ or other partners, have seminars and meetings on hospital planning and design.

In the future, we want to go more deeply into other parts of the health care system, setting up groups on facilities for primary and elderly care, mental health care, etc.

The hospital reform of 2002 changed the structure of Norwegian healthcare into a system that can be compared with the new NHS in Great Britain. Regional Health Trusts and local hospital trusts are now responsible for the planning and execution of hospital projects.

At present, there are plans for the construction of new hospitals in Norway in the range of 6 billion Euro. The level of construction costs per square meter exceeds the levels of other European countries, and cost containment is becoming a bigger issue in hospital planning than what was the case just a few years ago. The architectural and functional quality of newly built hospitals is quite high as well. The National University Hospital in Oslo is fine an example of a high quality tertiary Norwegian hospital.

Knut H. Bergsland
Chairman of the Forum of Architects for Health Care Building 2003.
E -mail: knut.bergsland@sintef.no