Maternity care hours
The number of hours of care that you receive depends on the provisions in your insurance policy. Almost all insurers apply the principle that the number of care hours must be determined for each client separately (indication). The insurer often applies a maximum number of care hours. These are the care hours that are stated in the policy. It is therefore not always the case that you receive the maximum number of care hours that are included in the policy.
If there are no special circumstances (which is of course to be hoped), the number of care hours will be approximately 45-49 hours spread over 8 days. The division of these hours will be determined in consultation with you after you have given birth.
If you wish to receive fewer care hours, you can indicate this. The minimum number of care hours is then 24 hours spread over 8 days (3 hours per day).
“You must check your policy yourself to see how much maternity care you are entitled to”
Client information
Maternity care tailored to your needs through national indication protocol
Introduction
From 1 January 2006, maternity care will be included in the basic package of the new health insurance for everyone. This was chosen because we in the Netherlands consider maternity care important. Maternity care helps mother and child to make a good start in this very special phase of life.
What will change?
The organisations1 involved in maternity care have agreed to organise the allocation of maternity care even better from 1 January 2006. No longer according to (sometimes) opaque and locally different rules, which can be unclear to you as a client. From now on, care will be tailored to what that one mother and child really need during the maternity period.
The national indication protocol
To achieve this, these organisations have developed a national indication protocol for maternity care with great care: a manual with which maternity care providers, midwives and insurers throughout the country determine in the same way which maternity care is needed. For each individual situation anew. So that everyone in the Netherlands can count on tailor-made maternity care. With a fair and uniform distribution of the available resources and capacity.
Maternity care and informal care
Everyone in the Netherlands is therefore entitled to maternity care. Maternity care means that mother and child receive the care, guidance and support they need at home. The people who provide maternity care are specially trained for this.
In 2006, maternity care also goes hand in hand with informal care. The woman in labor is responsible for arranging this informal care herself. Just like in other care situations. By informal care we mean the help that we voluntarily give to each other and that we receive from: the partner, housemates, grandma or grandpa, the neighbours. The maternity nurse performs basic household tasks that are directly related to the care of mother and baby.
How does it work in practice?
The maternity care that applies to you is determined as objectively as possible using the national maternity care indication protocol. This is the guideline with which the nature (the content of the care) and the extent (the number of hours of care) of the maternity care that is required are assessed.
The maternity care that is required is assessed at three points in time. We call this the indication. The first time is at a pregnancy of no more than 36 weeks. A professional practitioner (the intaker) who is qualified to do so then assesses the necessary content of the maternity care: what is required for the woman in labor in this family? The number of hours of maternity care to be provided is initially based on this.
The intaker will in principle come to your home when you are expecting your first child. For a subsequent child, a conversation can take place at home or there is a telephone contact, depending on your situation. However, not everything is known before the birth. That is why we also look at two other moments to see what care needs to be provided. This happens on the day of delivery and on the third or fourth day after. Only then will it be clear what mother and child really need. Your own midwife (or GP) and maternity nurse will make this second and third assessment together.
If necessary, the care provided will be adjusted to the new care requirement. We call this a re-indication. This may mean that you will still receive more maternity care than was originally promised. But less may also occur, namely if the originally proposed package turns out to be unnecessary. The maternity care file will state exactly what maternity care you will receive and why. Then it can always be checked how it went.
Customised maternity care
The result of this way of working leads to you receiving the maternity care that is necessary to give mother and child a good start. The maternity care provides support in the area of caring for mother and child, gives instructions, advice and information, ensures good hygiene and a number of basic household tasks. The maternity nurse will look at what is going on in your situation, so that she can also properly inform the midwife/GP about the progress of the postpartum period. If everything goes well during the delivery, you will receive maternity care with a basic scope of 49 hours. Depending on your personal situation, hours can be added or subtracted. Of course, it is possible with us to purchase additional maternity care hours yourself, these extra hours will then be invoiced to the client on the personal contribution invoice. For more information, you can always contact our maternity centre.
In conclusion
We hope that this information makes it clear how the allocation of maternity care works and that it is done in the same way for everyone. Your maternity care provider and your insurer can provide you with more information. A statutory personal contribution applies to everyone. The statutory personal contribution for 2015 is € 4.15 per hour.
