Centrum voor Consultatie en Expertise (Centre for Consultation and Expertise)

Introduction

The Centre for Consultation and Expertise (Centrum voor Consultatie en Expertise, hereafter CCE) occupies a unique position within the Dutch national healthcare system. Individuals in need of long-term care sometimes face the situation that their quality of life is in danger of becoming seriously compromised. Should they or their caregivers be no longer able to find solutions, they can apply to the CCE for ‘exceptional care’. We work with independent experts in order to provide customised advice and support. In doing so, the CCE is intended as a supplementary service to standard national healthcare services.  

Main activities

The CCE performs three main activities: 

• providing consultations 
• gathering and disseminating expertise
• advising on care plans 

Consultation

The CCE’s primary activity is consultation. The CCE accepts applications for consultation when there are serious concerns about a client’s quality of life. Sometimes, individuals can fall between the cracks. He or she has complicated medical and/or psychological problems, exhibits severe problem behaviour or seems to have bleak future prospects. The CCE takes action only when problems cannot be resolved within the standard healthcare system. Care professionals can also consult the CCE for a second opinion about an existing care plan. No costs result from enlisting the CCE’s aid; the CCE is fully funded by the government. 

The CCE has a large pool of consultants throughout the Netherlands, who advise on the possibilities of better treatment and care for clients. They are professionals such as (educational) psychologists, behavioural experts, doctors, nurses and psychiatrists. These professionals are not on the CCE payroll, but are temporarily enlisted on the basis of their expertise. They are independent - not affiliated with any of the care institutions in question - and can provide a fresh perspective for seemingly gridlocked cases. The client’s interests are always the first consideration during the consultation process.  

It is because the CCE only deals with complex issues that its approach is multidisciplinary, using different points of departure and a wide range of specialties. After all, factors such as the physical and social environment of clients can be a factor. Consultations usually concern a single individual in need of exceptional care. However, the CCE is sometimes faced with situations in which more than one client has insufficient quality of life. The CCE then often starts a collective consultation process in order to improve the quality of care for that entire group of individuals.  

Expertise

Gathering and disseminating expertise is another important CCE activity. Consultations are evaluated and provide new insights into the factors which resulted in success or failure for a certain approach, such as knowledge of disorders, problem behaviour and treatment methods, for example. Our long experience with consultations is the impetus for developing new expertise. The CCE has an external focus and is dedicated to sharing the expertise resulting from consultations with other healthcare organisations. In this way, specific expertise is not only of benefit to the individual client concerned, but to all clients nationwide.  

This expertise is obviously shared amongst CCE’s own consultants, but also with healthcare professionals in the sector as a whole, for instance by means of work conferences and publications. Because of its involvement in exceptional care – care that deviates from the ‘norm’ or standard in the healthcare system - the CCE is in a prime position to take note of gaps in healthcare provision. The CCE aspires to make a major contribution to improving the quality of care in the broadest possible sense, so that what is termed ‘exceptional care’ at present can be included in standard healthcare in future.   

Three expertise projects are currently being conducted:

1. Self-injurious behavior in children with severe intellectual disabilities;

2. Mood disorders in persons with severe intellectual disabilities;

3. Medical/biological causes of problem behaviour.

In these projects, our goal is to apply our consultation expertise in the development of products for practicing, such as videos, methods, guidelines and checklists.

Advising

In the Netherlands, it is possible to be granted financial aid for clients with exceptional care needs. In order to requisition or request this kind of financing, organisations must devise a care plan. The CCE provides advice on whether this care plan is well-suited to the client concerned.  

International projects

Mental Health in Intellectual Disability

The Mental Health in Intellectual Disability (MHID) platform is a cooperative organisation between a number of centres of expertise and professional organisations in the Netherlands and Flanders (Flemish Belgium), that are involved in preventative measures and care in the field of mental health for those with intellectual disabilities. The CCE is a member of this platform. This cooperative organisation was founded in 2005 with the following goals:

• exchanging expertise re this subject (nationally and internationally)
• streamlining individual activities in this sector
• stimulating the development of new expertise
• increasing the expertise of caregivers and professionals

The platform is closely affiliated with the European Association in Mental Health and Intellectual Disability (EAMHID), the leading European cooperative organisation in the field. In 2009, an EAMHID congress takes place in Amsterdam, and the CCE is the co-organiser of this event.  

Euregio Project

The Euregio Project is a collaborative effort on the part of Dutch and German organisations involved in the care of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The aim is to improve the quality of life of clients with intellectual disabilities and severe problem behaviour. The first phase of the project took place in the period 2004-2007, and has now been completed. In this phase:·       

• studies were conducted at German and Dutch universities on behalf of these clients       
• an independent consultancy was established in Germany to provide advice in impasse situations    
• many employees have received training to empower them and to improve their capabilities to tune in to needs of their clients

In the period 2008-2010 the CCE participates in six new products on various themes.
  

Core Values:

In all its activities, the CCE is guided by the following basic principles: 

• Independence in the interests of the client: we are not affiliated with any care organisation or interested party; the individual care of the client is always the primary focus
• Quality: our added value is mainly in the quality of our working process, our employees and the external experts we enlist. This is the reason we are intensifying our efforts to optimise and demonstrate this quality.
• We use a multidisciplinary approach; we focus only on complex care issues which therefore require different points of departure.
• Cooperation: we do not prescribe or dictate so much as we enter into a dialogue with the parties concerned in a request for exceptional care. Relatives and caregivers always remain the ones who are responsible for providing care to the client.

Contact:

If you would like more information about the CCE, please contact the national office by telephone 030-2679288 (from outside the Netherlands +31 302679288) or send an email to:


You can also download the brochure on the CCE.