The Websites of Norwegian hospitals: do they meet national guidelines and patient's expectations?

In 2001, the Norwegian National Health Administration introduced a system that allows patients to choose the public hospital at which they are to be treated. This increased the importance of hospital Websites, as they are used by patients to select a service. In 2002 we rated the Websites of general hospitals in Norway in two ways. Rating 1 was based on a Norwegian set of quality criteria for Websites; 16 items were evaluated to give a maximum score of 32. For rating 2, we used the top five items ranked by cancer patients or their relatives in a previous study, which were weighted and gave a maximum score of 27. Fifty-four (82%) of the 66 public general hospitals in Norway had a Website on the Internet. Information about departments and treatments offered was sparse. Information on prices was almost completely absent. About a third of the Websites were searchable. Quality, as scored by summing ratings 1 and 2, was related to the type of hospital. The mean scores were: university hospitals, 38.8; central hospitals, 30.3; local hospitals, 29.2; and other hospitals, 21.1. On the whole, the hospitals' Websites were not impressive, in view of the competition between hospitals for patients.