A good argument or not, should the UMCG have to close the department, Schilstra-Schaafsma will be disappointed in any case. The increased travel time plays a role, of course, but the feeling at a hospital is also important. “It has been familiar at the UMCG for years,” she says. “I understand that something has to be done, but care must also remain humane. I am afraid that I and my child will be treated like numbers in another hospital. And don’t forget what closure means for brothers, sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers. For them it becomes much more complicated to come by.”
This will undoubtedly also be the starting point of the NZa report. The UMCG is therefore still hopeful that the department can remain open, but the question is whether the minister will adjust his decision.
Earlier this year, Ilona Meijers and Debbie Schilstra-Schaafsma were guests of Margriet Benak in Cassata. There, these Drenthe mothers explained what the closure of pediatric heart surgery in Groningen means for their child.