If you have moved to Drammen from another country, chest pain raises two questions at once: is this serious, and who exactly am I supposed to call here? Norway has three separate doors into health care, and picking the wrong one costs time you may not have. This article explains where the line runs – and how the system works if you are new to it.
The three numbers, in one paragraph
Norway separates emergency care from everyday care more strictly than many countries do.
- 113 is the medical emergency number. You call it when a situation is life-threatening or could quickly become life-threatening.
- 116 117 is legevakt, the out-of-hours urgent care service. You call it when something cannot wait until your GP opens, but is not an emergency.
- Your fastlege (assigned GP) handles everything else during opening hours. In Norway the GP is the entry point to the health system – referrals, prescriptions, sick notes and follow-up all go through them.
Chest pain is the clearest case in the whole system where the first door is the right one.
The main rule: new or unexpected chest pain is assessed now
If you get chest pain you do not recognise – especially if it comes on suddenly, comes while you are resting, or does not ease off – you should call 113.
Helsenorge, Norway's official public health information service, states the time window clearly: do not wait more than five minutes to see whether symptoms pass. Many people get worse during the first 5–15 minutes, and where a heart attack is suspected, fast help is what limits damage to the heart muscle. The content is provided and quality-assured by the Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Prehospital Emergency Medicine (NAKOS).
Five minutes is not long. That is the point.
Symptoms that should not be waited out
Chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack, but the picture varies. According to Helsenorge, symptoms typically come on suddenly, and you may have some of these without having all of them:
- Chest pain that gets worse with activity, often described as pressing or squeezing
- Pain or discomfort high in the back, in the neck, in the upper abdomen – or radiating into the shoulder, arm or jaw
- Shortness of breath, or unusual exhaustion that does not lift when you stop
- Pale, cold and clammy skin, cold sweats
- Nausea, vomiting, or a feeling that you are about to faint
The Norwegian Directorate of Health's patient information on chest pain in unstable angina lists when to seek help: new or unexpected chest pain, chest pain at rest, chest pain lasting more than 15 minutes, chest pain together with shortness of breath, nausea, cold sweats or dizziness – and known angina that suddenly becomes worse than usual.
That last point matters: if you have had chest pain over time and know what triggers it, the signal is the change in the pattern.
If Norwegian is hard for you under pressure, it helps to say at the start of the call that you need English. Then give, in this order: the address you are calling from, what is happening, and who it is happening to. Stay on the line. In consultation with 113 you may be advised on what to do while help is on the way – including whether an over-the-counter blood-thinning medicine is appropriate. Follow what you are told. Helsenorge also advises not to leave the person alone, and to have them sit down and stay calm.
Women, older people and people with diabetes may feel something else
The stereotype of a crushing pain in the left side of the chest does not fit everyone. Helsenorge notes that women and older people often experience symptoms other than typical chest pain, and that people with diabetes may have weaker symptoms.
Shortness of breath, unusual exhaustion, nausea or discomfort in the jaw, neck or upper abdomen therefore deserve the same seriousness as classic chest pain – particularly when they arrive suddenly and without explanation.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) makes a related point in its June 2026 update from the Cardiovascular Disease Registry: men have consistently higher rates than women for most diagnoses, but both Norwegian and international research shows that women often carry an equally high or higher relative risk once they have a risk factor such as smoking or high blood pressure.
You are not taking someone else's place
Newcomers often hesitate for an extra reason: uncertainty about whether they are entitled to call at all.
On capacity, the Norwegian Directorate of Health's quality indicator for 113 response times records around 761,000 calls to 113 in 2025, and reports that every emergency medical communication centre in the country met the target of answering 90 per cent of calls within ten seconds that year.
And the assessment is not your job – it is theirs. The operator asks the questions that separate what is urgent from what can wait. If the answer is that it can wait, you will be told so, and pointed to the right place.
Do not drive yourself
One practical point that is easy to get wrong: when it is urgent, an ambulance beats your own car. Treatment starts in the ambulance, not in the emergency department – and if things get worse on the way, you do not want to be the one behind the wheel. That applies even when Drammen hospital feels close enough.
Chest discomfort that is not urgent – where the GP comes in
Not every discomfort in the chest is the heart. Muscular pain in the chest wall, strain after coughing or exercise, acid reflux, respiratory infections and anxiety can all cause chest pain.
Helsenorge offers a useful marker in its description of stable angina: if chest pain lasts only a few seconds, or feels like a gnawing ache lasting for hours, it probably does not come from the heart. Note the wording – probably. It is a pointer for a doctor, not a test for ruling out something that worries you.
A GP appointment is usually right for recurring, familiar symptoms that have not changed character, for mapping risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol, or for follow-up after a hospital assessment. Outside GP opening hours, and when it cannot wait until the next day, you call legevakt on 116 117.
We have written in more detail about that choice here: 113, 116 117 or your GP? How to know who to call and What Drammen legevakt does – and what it does not.
What your GP can do before anything happens
A good deal of what matters for chest pain happens outside the emergency situation. In its June 2026 update, FHI estimates that just over half of all cardiovascular disease could be prevented by improving risk factors, and points to high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity, obesity and type 2 diabetes – all largely modifiable.
High blood pressure is the clearest example, because you usually cannot feel it. FHI describes it as easy to measure and usually straightforward to treat, and cites the WHO estimate that around one third of Norwegian adults aged 30 to 79 have high blood pressure.
If you are new to Norway, it is worth bringing your health history from your previous country to a first GP appointment – earlier assessments, tests, and any medicines you take. It saves time later. More on the numbers here: Blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, and on what a routine check involves in the annual health check with your GP.
As always: this is general information, not an assessment of your particular situation. If you are unsure, talk to your doctor.
Looking for a GP in Drammen?
Hotvet legesenter is at Rosenkrantzgata 75 in central Drammen. Several of our GPs have places available on their lists, and our doctors speak English.
See available GP placesSource pages are in Norwegian.