Page 57 - Reduction of coercive measures
P. 57

                                Legal framework involuntary care
Since 1994, the Psychiatric Hospitals (Compulsory Admissions) Act (Wet Bopz) has served as the legal framework for compulsory admissions and restrictive measures applied to people with an intellectual disability in the Netherlands. The transition from this legislation to the Care and Coercion Act (Staatsblad, 2018, 36; in Dutch: Wet Zorg en Dwang) has far-reaching implications for the way in which people with an intellectual disability are cared for. The aim of this Act is to protect the rights of persons with an intellectual disability in an effective and fitting way, also taking into account the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, United Nations, 2006) which the Dutch Government ratified on the 14th of July 2016. An important premise of the CRPD is that the essential elements that together form the legal position of clients, regardless of their impairments, are guaranteed in the same way. Psychiatric patients, however, will fall under another new Act, the Compulsory Mental Healthcare Act (in Dutch: Wet verplichte GGZ) (Staatsblad, 2018, 37), creating in the Netherlands a situation, similar to the UK, with two different Acts for compulsory care (Dörenberg and Frederiks, 2012). The question is whether this is in line with the principles of the CRPD.
The term “involuntary care” plays a major role in the Care and Coercion Act, which was adopted by the House of Representatives in September 2013, but has not yet been adopted by the Senate. The Dutch legislator takes the term “involuntary care” to mean “all forms of care resisted by the client or his representative”. This new legislation also includes an extensive requirement for external reporting, with the aim being for the Health Care Inspectorate, as an external party, to be able to supervise involuntary care provided internally. Care providers have to ensure real-time reporting of all involuntary care provided; in other words, to maintain up-to-date records of all involuntary care provided within their institution. The Health Care Inspectorate can examine these records at any time. According to the legislator, the purpose of this reporting system is to ensure that clients receive proper legal protection. Every six months, care providers also have to send an overview to the Inspectorate, together with an analysis, of all involuntary care provided.
Reporting coercive measures
  55
3





























































































   55   56   57   58   59