Region Syddanmark decides today whether to expand a project that sends a doctor into a drop-in centre for vulnerable people in Odense, where patients can see a GP without booking online.
The project runs at Kirkens Korshær’s warm room, the varmestue, in Odense. DR reports that the region makes its decision on the expansion today, after roughly a year of operation at the Odense site.
The consultation room sits next to the centre’s supervised drug consumption room. One door is marked for drug use, the other is marked as a health room. Users of the centre include people with alcohol dependency, drug users, people experiencing homelessness and people with mental illness.
A private GP with a blue doctor’s bag
According to DR, Søren Madsen runs a private practice in central Odense. Every second Tuesday he packs his blue doctor’s bag and holds consultations at the warm room instead. The visits are part of a regional project aimed at reducing inequality in health by bringing care closer to the most marginalized.
The clinic itself is sparsely equipped. DR describes a grey chair that converts into an examination bed, a scale, cleaning wipes, and devices that measure infection levels and blood count. Madsen says many patients arrive with wounds, infections and low blood count, and that several have had to be sent to hospital.
As reported by DR, Madsen has seen patients who refused to contact their own GP or the out-of-hours service, the lægevagt. He describes severe infections and says the people he treats at the centre are noticeably sicker than those in his own clinic.
There is no digital booking. Patients simply write their name on a list, with no e-Boks or MitID involved. On the day DR visited, ten names were on the list, and after an hour and a half Madsen had seen three or four people.
Peder Pedersen, 69, is a regular user of the centre. He told DR that people put off going to a doctor in town and that things are caught earlier when Madsen is on site. He would prefer weekly visits rather than every two weeks. The average age of users at the centre is 61, per DR.
Heinz Wolf, who leads the Kirkens Korshær centre in Odense, says the medical help makes a large difference for the people who come there. According to Wolf, working out how to book a doctor’s appointment ranks low on their list of daily concerns. He hopes the project becomes permanent.
Why the decision comes now
Odense is the first place Region Syddanmark launched the service, DR reports. Dagens Medicin reported on October 14, 2026 that the regional plan also covered Kirkens Korshær’s warm rooms in Esbjerg. After a year of searching, the region had still not recruited a GP for the Esbjerg site, according to the outlet.
What the project shows about digital access to Danish healthcare
Access to Danish healthcare normally runs through a CPR number and an assigned family doctor, the praktiserende læge. Appointments and medical records are typically handled through MitID, e-Boks and sundhed.dk. The Odense project removes those steps and lets patients sign a paper list instead, as described by DR.
That matters for anyone whose access depends on digital credentials, including newcomers waiting for a CPR number or people who have lost access to MitID. The Odense service is aimed at users of the Kirkens Korshær centre, not at residents generally, and DR does not report any nationality or residence criteria. How healthcare outside the digital system will be organized elsewhere in the region remains unclear, given the unfilled GP position in Esbjerg reported by Dagens Medicin.
