The healthcare sector is shocked by the major cuts presented on Friday by the minority coalition. The ambitions of the coming cabinet for mental health care (ggz) are “more than strong,” the mental health sector organization said in a response to ANP. However, the organization calls it striking “that no resources appear to be available to realize these ambitions.”
The Federation of Medical Specialists writes that the cuts in healthcare are coming in very hard. “I hold my breath,” says chairman Karel Hulsewé. This means there will be less money for further training for medical specialists.
Hundreds of millions less is spent on long-term care, which includes elderly care, care for the disabled and mental health care. Anneke Westerlaken, chairman of the trade association ActiZ, says in a response that care for the elderly does not require a ‘stand-in-place’. The trade association would like to enter into discussions with the new cabinet to discuss further elaboration.
The Association for Disabled Care Netherlands (VGN) reacts “shocked” to the budget cuts of the minority coalition. The VGN is pleased with the explicit attention to the implementation of the UN Convention on Disability in the agreement, but “the financial translation of this ambition is missing”.
Care avoiders
The Netherlands Patient Federation reacts with “mixed feelings” to the coalition agreement. This is partly due to the plans to increase the deductible. “Of course, some measures ease the pain somewhat, but at the bottom line the risk of avoidance of care only increases,” says Linda Daniels, acting director of the Netherlands Patient Federation.
The minority cabinet will also make 100 million cuts to academic hospitals. This concerns 10 percent of the so-called ‘availability contribution’. In practice, this means money for expensive, specialist care and research. “These cuts really affect the patient. We wanted to think about cuts, but we did not see this coming,” a spokesperson for the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers said. NRC.
Live blog
Cabinet formation
Coalition agreement presented: ‘The Netherlands has become great through cooperation’
The journalistic principles of NRC
