For the first time in Dutch history, the state is being held liable for the long waiting lists in mental healthcare, with non-profit foundation Recht op ggz, an action group of healthcare workers and patients in The Netherlands, filing the summons last week after working on the lawsuit for two years, reports NL Times.
It accuses the state of failing to protect "fundamental and social human rights” and the right to good healthcare, and demands that it address the backlogs.
Patients have to wait an unacceptably long time for care, or receive no appropriate care at all, the foundation said, with the most vulnerable of them – those with complex mental health problems – being the most affected.
“Strangely enough, within our healthcare system it is most difficult to arrange care for the people who need it most,” said Manon Kleijweg, a psychiatrist and a board member for the foundation.
Around 200 000 to 300 000 people suffer from severe conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar or personality disorders, depression, complex trauma, eating or obsessive-compulsive disorders, and at least 56 000 of them urgently need psychiatric help that is not available to them.
The state is responsible for the mental healthcare system, which is why the foundation is holding it accountable – but the lawsuit does not target health insurers and care providers. They are responsible for purchasing and supplying healthcare, but are required to compete with each other by law, making it risky for them to truly commit to complex patients.
The Recht op ggz foundation wants the government to change the financing of mental healthcare so that funding comes directly from the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare, and Sport’s budget, and is not subject to market influence.
Martin Buijsen, a Professor of health law at Erasmus University Rotterdam, applauded the lawsuit. “This is the major scandal of our healthcare system: how this most vulnerable group is the victim,” he said.
In 2005, healthcare institutions, patient organisations, and health insurers agreed that no one in The Netherlands would wait longer than 14 weeks for care. Yet the government stood by as health insurers repeatedly disregarded these standards by purchasing too little specialised care, Buijsen added.
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