The Register of Authorised Healthcare Professionals (HOSP)
Purpose of the Register
The primary purpose of the register is to maintain an up-to-date list of authorised healthcare Professionals.
The data are used to inform pharmacies, employers, public agencies and the public about the qualifications of healthcare professionals, as well as for supervision. In addition, the register data forms the basis for statistics and forecasts regarding the supply of of healthcare professionals.
Contents of the Register of Authorised Healthcare Professionals
The HOSP register includes people who have applied for and received authorisation for a healthcare-related profession. Most register data originates from the healthcare professionals' own applications for authorisation. Certain data are also taken from the "Swedish Education Nomenclature" and the Swedish population register. The HOSP register contains information on the professions that are subject to authorisation regulations, as well as information on specialist certificates for doctors and dentists.
There are currently the following 22 professions requiring authorisation:
Pharmacist, occupational therapist, audiologist, midwife, biomedical analyst, dietician, physiotherapist, health care practioner, chiropractor, physician, speech therapist, naprapath, optician, orthopaedic engineer, psychologist, psychotherapist, radiology nurse, dispenser, medical physicist, registered nurse, dental hygienist and dentist.
The following coding guides are used in the Register:
Occupational codes, education codes, specialist codes for doctors 1992, specialist codes for doctors 1996, specialist codes for doctors 2008, specialist codes for doctors 2015, specialist codes for dentists 1993, specialist codes for dentists 2017, specialist codes temporary authorisation for doctors and dentists 2016, specialist codes for doctors 2021, disqualification codes.
The HOSP register includes all persons who have received authorisation in Sweden. Data on specialist nurses according to the Higher Education Ordinance are not included in the Register.
Legal regulation of the Register
According to The Ordinance regarding the register of healthcare professionals) (2006:196), the National Board of Health and Welfare must maintain the HOSP register. The management of register data is also regulated by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, the Regulation (2018:218) containing supplementary provisions to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and associated regulations, as well as the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400).
Personal data processed in the Register
According to the Ordinance regarding the Register of Healthcare Professionals, the register may only contain the following information:
- Name, personal identification number, coordination number or other similar identifier and gender
- place of registration
- profession
- basic profession, educational institution, country of education and date of award of the qualification
- specialisation
- date of authorisation/certificate of specialist competence
- the date of expiry of the temporary certificate of authorisation referred to above
- decision on partial entry
- decision on probationary period and withdrawal of the authorisation
- prescriber code and scope of prescription rights
- any technical or administrative information necessary to fulfil the purposes of the Register.
About processing of personal data in the register
The National Board of Health and Welfare is the data controller for the processing of personal data in the HOSP register. The purpose of data processing is to fulfil the obligation of the public agency to maintain an up-to-date list of the qualifications of all authorised health care professionals.
As a general rule, the information in the HOSP register is public, but if there is particular reason to believe that the data subject or someone close to him or her will suffer harm if information is disclosed, that information is protected by confidentiality.
The Swedish Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO) and the Swedish Transport Agency have been given electronic access to register data. Public healthcare providers may also have direct access to certain register data. Currently, Region Skåne has electronic access to such data.
Your rights as a data subject
The registration of personal data belonging to persons who have applied for and obtained a healthcare-profession authorisation is not voluntary. As a data subject in the HOSP register, you still have a number of rights under the General Data Protection Regulation when we process your personal data. Read more at Your rights as a data subject to request an extract from the Register for your own use, or to exercise another such right.
For questions and comments
Any questions or comments about the National Board of Health and Welfare's processing of your data in the HOSP register can be directed to the agency's data protection officer. You can contact the data protection officer by email at dataskyddsombud@socialstyrelsen.se, or by post at:
National Board of Health and Welfare
Data Protection Officer
106 30 Stockholm.
You can also call the switchboard at +46 75-247 30 00.
If you are dissatisfied with the National Board of Health and Welfare's processing of personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY).
If you believe that we have processed your register data incorrectly, you also have the right to claim damages. Decisions in such claims for damages are made by the Office of the Chancellor of Justice (JK).
Statistics based on the Register
Extract statistics from the database.
Number of employed in healtchcare (in English)
Number of licenses granted (only available in Swedish).
Ordering data and statistics from the Register (only available in Swedish)