Senators are again being urged to derail some of the government’s decentralisation plans and not to put responsibility for youth psychiatric services under government control.

The government wants to take youth psychiatric services out of the health insurance package and put local councils in charge. The senate is due to discuss the proposal on Tuesday.

Local health boards, patient organisations and the national psychiatrists’ association are among the bodies which have paid for an advert in the national Dutch papers urging the government to rethink.

They say that children suffering from depression, eating disorders and other mental health issues will no longer be guaranteed good care because treatment will be decided at a local level.

Not only does this mean council budgets will determine who gets treatment, but children will be treated differently depending on where they live, the psychiatrists say.