At general practices with high mental health nurse deployment, fewer people with depression are treated in basic or specialised mental healthcare

When the deployment of the mental health nurse in a general practice is high, fewer people with depression or complaints of a depressive nature are treated in general basic mental healthcare or specialist mental healthcare. This is concluded from research conducted by Nivel and National Health Care Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland). This finding is all the more relevant, because mental healthcare in the Netherlands is dealing with long waiting times. The mental health nurse might be able to play a greater role in the care of patients with mental health problems. However, it is important to map the complexity of the problems of people who are treated by the mental health nurse beforehand.

The study is conducted within the joint academic research facility 'Routine Healthcare Data for Appropriate Care' of Nivel and the National Health Care Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland). The scientific article Healthcare utilization patterns of individuals with depression after national policy to increase the mental health workforce in primary care: a data linkage study was published in BMC Primary Care (May 8, 2024), in a special issue on mental health care in primary care.