A national debate has been sparked in the Netherlands by the failure to find suitable care for a teenage psychiatric patient with learning difficulties, after a newspaper revealed that the girl had been kept in restraints in a psychiatric unit for five weeks.
The 16 year old, who has an IQ of between 70 and 85, has been treated at the psychiatric department of Utrecht University Hospital since 1997. Her condition has recently deteriorated, and attempts have been made to find a bed in a specialist institution for the past nine months. Meanwhile, she has been kept in isolation for several months and for the past five weeks has had restraints applied for her own protection.
The judge overseeing the case, Mrs R C Quik-Schuijt, has written to the Dutch justice minister saying that the case “contravenes the rights of the child” and “is the worst I have seen in 25 years.”
The health insurance company responsible for funding long term psychiatric care in the region, Anova, has now said that the girl should be transferred this month with funds from a waiting list initiative.
Answering questions in parliament last month, health minister Els Borst-Eilers blamed local institutions for not doing enough. She said it was regrettable that publicity was necessary before a solution was found.
The problem has arisen because of bed blocking in the specialist units treating psychiatric patients with a mental handicap. Psychiatrist Victor Assmann from the De Hondsberg unit, which hopes to treat the girl, explained that she is one of a small group of patients with IQs between 70 and 85 who receive unsatisfactory care. They are “too clever” for the usual mental handicap units but may not be suitable for hospital psychiatry. A £15m plan for 300 beds for mentally handicapped young people with psychiatric problems awaits a government decision. There are currently only 96 such beds.