What can AI do in the mental health system?
'I see opportunities, but only if we take it up together'
AI and digital applications are also on an unstoppable rise in the mental health sector. During Zorg & ict, Ruth Peetoom will discuss what AI can do for the mental health sector. 'AI can help us, but we should not count ourselves rich.'
"With AI, we have to look carefully at what is possible in the short term and what is only possible in the longer term," says Ruth Peetoom (president of the Dutch ggz). During Zorg & ict on April 8 at 1 p.m. on the Tech Mainstage, she speaks about the opportunities and challenges of AI for the ggz. She will do so together with Quirijn Lok, co-director and also director of GGZ Westelijk Noord-Brabant. The fact that the topic has been invested in the board - it falls under Quirijn Lok's portfolio - already indicates its importance, according to Peetoom. "It is good that digital development is anchored in the board in this way," he said.
Also come to the session by Ruth Peetoom and Quirijn Lok. Register here for free admission to Zorg & ict, from April 8 to 10, 2025 in Jaarbeurs Utrecht.
In the short term, Peetoom expects a lot from AI where administrative tasks are concerned. "It's going to help us alleviate the administrative burden, which is also really high in the mental health sector. Think of making conversation reports, summaries of files, overviews and periodic reports. It's nice that AI can contribute to that, but we shouldn't count ourselves rich either. It helps, but it won't solve the overall problem."
Reducing waiting lists
The Integral Care and Welfare Agreement now includes agreements to reduce waiting lists by 100,000. "It's all hands on deck and AI can really do something about that," Peetoom said. Although Peetoom says AI can help relieve some of the administrative pressure, she also points out another consequence. "Maybe we have to come to terms with the fact that you can't give all the care that people expect. That is also an important political question."
Assessing urgency with AI
Waiting lists in the mental health system are persistent, the NZa recently reported. "It is not that the problem of accessibility is not being addressed," Peetoom said. "That is happening, but in addition we see a big growth in demand for mental health care. We are treating more people, but because the number of people with a demand for care is increasing, the waiting lists are not decreasing."
Still, AI can play a role here, Peetoom thinks, for example in assessing the urgency of the request for help or in certain forms of self-care. "Even though that has limits. It's about lighter things you can address. Because you don't take away real psychiatric complaints with an app during the waiting period."
Network care is the future
In the recently published Toekomstperspectief van de Nederlandse ggz, digitalization and digital care has an important place. "Network care is the future and digital care is an important part of that. We are already working hard on that. The sector is increasingly picking up the gloves together." Innovations in augmented reality, voice technology and AI are in full swing. As an example, Peetoom cites Floortje Scheepers, professor of Innovation in the mental health sector in Utrecht. "She is very committed to how we can learn from all the data out there in a privacy-proof way. We are committed to that." The Alliance for Quality in the mental health sector (AKWA) is also explicitly developing AI and digital tools.
Broad purchasing combinations
With all the different initiatives, the Dutch mental health sector sees a task as an industry organization to connect initiatives and bring people together. Besides stimulating partnerships between innovative parties and ggz institutions, Peetoom also mentions setting up broad purchasing combinations and jointly developing products. "We have the ambition as an industry to develop a large language model. If we get that done, together with healthcare professionals and patients, perhaps confidence in AI applications will increase. Trust in AI, and in what happens with data, is an additional factor that we in the mental health industry are alert to."
Stigma on mental illness
Precisely because of that trust, it is important to establish good guidelines on AI applications within the mental health system. According to Peetoom, AKWA plays a role in this, but so does Digizo, which, together with other healthcare parties, has developed a strict assessment framework for ICT applications in the mental health sector. "Besides the people who have enthusiastically started working on this, on the other hand there are people with some reservations because it is about data collection and privacy. That, of course, has everything to do with the stigma in society on mental illness. That means you have to be very careful about privacy."
Hybrid care
AI is also the new reality in the mental health sector, Peetoom believes. "This is simply the world we live in, where care and new technology are much more integrated. By now, some 95 percent of large institutions already offer hybrid care. It is no longer in its infancy. It helps to help people earlier and more appropriately, even if they are still on the waiting list, for example. During Zorg&ICT, we will talk about what is happening with AI in the broad community that we are. But it will also be about the ethical dilemmas: can AI replace the practitioner? If there is no practitioner, because we have such a shortage of people, is there an AI application or a digital tool to still be able to work on your mental health?"
The Future Perspective states that AI and digital applications will receive more attention in training. "If we are serious about the combination of technology and care, then care professionals must also be able to work with it," Peetoom said. "And I am convinced that that has positive effects on the people working in care: more job satisfaction, less work pressure. And that helps retain people for healthcare."
