Long waiting lists at youth psychiatric centers

The system to provide care for young people with serious psychological problems is facing enormous troubles in the Netherlands. Children from twelve years old with syndromes such as eating disorders, depression and suicidal thoughts often do not receive the help they need. Thousands of children remain on waiting lists for up to one year, NOS reported.

The head of the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate, Korrie Louwes, investigated the situation in twenty institutions of providing mental healthcare services for children. "Coronavirus has further exacerbated and sharpened the problems that already existed for youth mental health care," says Louwes.

Louwes described the situation at the clinics as very serious. "Employees who become exhausted because they want to provide care and are no longer able to do so because institutions are understaffed. We see care institutions that have to refuse patients while they see that help really should be provided. We also see how despondent parents are becoming," she said.

The shortage of places goes back to 2015 when youth care services were decentralized and transferred to local authorities. 

"The waiting time for a child who is registered for eating problems is currently thirteen weeks. The waiting time for treatment is six weeks. And we find that unacceptable," says Marco Bottelier, a child psychiatrist and director of Accare, a large institution in the northeast of the country.

Chief Inspector Louwes expects waiting lists throughout the Netherlands to increase even further amid the post-coronavirus crisis, with more vulnerable families being affected by the pandemic and seeking help at youth psychiatric centers for their children.