First conversations for people with problems with a specialist will be compensated

People who are in trouble will be able to have an exploratory meeting with a specialist to determine the best way to help them, prevent their problems from worsening, and help prevent them from ending up in mental health care (GGZ). To make it easier for people to participate in these conversations, it has been decided that they will be compensated with the basic health insurance package.

The government has given the National Health Care Institute permission to decide the structure of the basic package. The institution expects clients to get the right help sooner after talking with a mental health treatment professional and a social worker.

Some people can be sent to a debt assistance center or a daycare more quickly to resolve their problems. This can also help to lessen the long waiting times for mental health care.

The care institute is unsure whether clients have to pay at their own risk for the meetings. The Ministry of Health still has to make arrangements with insurance companies about this.

The branch organization for mental health care, the Dutch GGZ, had pleaded for these exploratory meetings for a while. The organization also wanted the costs, which are around 250 euros per conversation, compensated.

GGz Breburg in Noord-Brabant held a test last year with around 3,500 exploratory meetings. Around a quarter of the people seemed to profit more from a different type of help than GGz, like a debt assistance center.

Some people may need mental health care after all, but the branch association thinks that the inflow can go down by ten percent due to the meetings.

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, is discouraged by the length of the waiting lists for mental health care, which is also not slowing down.

Politicians in Kamer think there are too many meetings and not enough concrete action for people who desperately need help. Caretaker Minister of Health, Welfare, and Sport Conny Helder disagreed with these comments at a debate about mental health care.

The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) recently reported that there were 97,450 people with psychiatric problems on a waiting list. This is over 10,000 more than last year. More than half of those people have to wait longer for help than initially agreed upon.

The lengthy waiting lists and waiting times are “Something we discuss time and time again, but nothing seems to happen while all kinds of things are promised,” sighed GroenLinks-PvdA MP Lisa Westerveld, who also spoke on behalf of D66. She added that she expects more action from the minister.

The negotiating parties for a new Cabinet, PVV, VVD, and NSC, were also shocked by the numbers. They agree with the opposition that the minister needs to take more action. BBB was not present at the debate.

Helder acknowledged significant and apparent problems in the mental health care industry but said that “important steps are being made” to shorten the waiting times. She admitted that she is perturbed about the staff shortages in the mental health care sector and the rise in people needing psychiatric help.