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Aussie in Sweden here. I had to wait 4 weeks to see a GP and then 4 more weeks for them to refer me each time they said "wait 4 weeks and come back if it's still an issue"

Public healthcare works way better in Australia, I went home and saw a doctor there, got to see a doctor straight away, got scans & referral etc within a week.

Other expats have told me I should go to Germany or the UK if I urgently need health care

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If you want to see a doctor here in Sweden, you do what the Swedes do: call at 8am to the Vårdcentral. Then say whatever you have is urgent (akut). You get a time the same day, 90% of the time. Otherwise, most vårdcentral have "akuttider" (emergency times) when you can just drop in.

I went to the vårdcentral drop in that morning, saw a nurse who said "come back in 4 weeks if you still have an issue" they decided me suddenly having ringing in my ears that has not stopped was not an urgent issue or a problem

That's bad luck. I agree it's a crap system, designed to keep costs down. If you live in Stockholm, you can pay 500kr and go to cityakuten.

There's also a few 'apps' - "kry", which are cheap and give you an immediate time. The docs on those apps can give you a referral.

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