Netherlands Targets Mental Health Waitlists With Group Care and Prevention Push
The Netherlands is sharpening its strategy to tackle prolonged waiting times in mental health care, placing group treatment and preventive mental health support at the core of a new national agenda aimed at expanding access without adding pressure on budgets or workforce capacity.
On December 18, the Dutch National Health Care Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland) announced that mental health group therapies and so-called “mental health precautions” will be priority focus areas under the 2026–2028 appropriate care package agenda, a joint initiative developed with healthcare providers to curb inappropriate care and accelerate meaningful support for patients with complex mental health needs.
Long waiting lists in the Dutch mental health system (GGZ) have left many patients waiting months before treatment begins. The new approach seeks to ensure that individuals receive earlier, effective support rather than remaining idle while awaiting specialised care.
What You Need To Know
- Group mental health therapies positioned as a core capacity solution
- Preventive support formalized to reduce untreated waiting periods
- Five national priority topics set for 2026–2028
- Focus on access gains without additional funding or workforce expansion
A central pillar of the agenda is the expanded use of group-based mental health treatments, which stakeholders say remain significantly underutilised despite strong evidence of effectiveness for many patient groups. In group settings, patients can benefit from shared experiences, peer support, and collective recovery processes, often achieving outcomes comparable to individual therapy.
From a system perspective, group treatment allows therapists to reach more patients simultaneously, increasing overall treatment capacity and freeing resources for patients who require individualised care. Despite these advantages, group therapies have struggled to scale due to organisational, logistical, and financial barriers, including reimbursement uncertainties and entrenched care pathways.
Healthcare providers across the GGZ are now collaborating to identify how group treatments can be deployed more broadly and systematically, removing bottlenecks that have limited adoption to date.
“Don’t wait – start with precaution”
The second major focus area targets the period before formal mental health treatment begins. Known as mental health precautions, these interventions include support from GP mental health nurses (POH-GGZ), digital mental health tools, self-help groups, and guidance from peer-support professionals.
While such measures can provide meaningful relief and stabilization, they remain unevenly implemented and poorly understood by both patients and providers. Many clients are unaware of available options, and referral pathways are often unclear.
To address this gap, the National Association of POH-GGZ, together with healthcare partners, will lead efforts to define, standardise, and expand access to precautionary mental health support, aiming to ensure patients receive timely help instead of waiting untreated.
Group treatment and mental health precautions are two of five healthcare topics prioritised on the 2026–2028 package agenda. The topics were selected by healthcare providers based on societal impact, disease burden, staffing constraints, costs, health outcomes, unwarranted variation in care, and environmental considerations.
The full priority list includes:
- Expanded use of (digital) tools and care technology, particularly in community nursing, with a focus on resolving reimbursement uncertainty
- Proactive care planning in hospitals to better align treatment decisions with patient preferences
- Periodic reassessment of expensive medicines already included in the basic insurance package
Each topic has a designated lead organisation responsible for developing an action plan in collaboration with stakeholders.
Action plans for all five topics are expected by April 2026, with implementation running through 2028. The Dutch Healthcare Institute will support participating organisations and monitor progress annually. The agenda forms part of the broader Integrated Healthcare Agreement (IZA), which aims to future-proof the Dutch healthcare system amid rising demand and workforce shortages.
Rather than expanding spending or staffing, the agenda reflects a strategic shift toward better use of existing resources, emphasising access, quality, and appropriateness of care.