ABSTRACT
The present policy of the Ministry of Welfare, Health and Cultural Affairs of the Netherlands regarding the mental hospitals is characterised by de-institutionalisation and resettlement of long-stay patients in the community and in so-called 'protective living environments'. Planning mental health services and care means not only estimating the need of the population for different types of psychiatric treatment and care in the future, but also maintaining a high quality of care for the individual patient. Decisions concerning the capacity of mental hospitals and the type and numbers of new facilities should preferably be based on the findings of epidemiological research. There is a lack of agreement in defining the boundaries of the chronically mentally ill population: boundaries which can guide national policy makers in planning various mental health services and their functions in a more rational way.
