Recovery-oriented services: help that goes beyond money
After an accident, almost all attention goes to the question of how much money will come. Understandable, but it is not the only thing that matters. Anyone who is out of action for months loses more than income: their overview, their work rhythm, sometimes the confidence that things will ever be all right again.
Recovery-oriented services are the branch of personal injury practice that focuses on this. In the description of De Letselschade Raad (the Personal Injury Council) it is “aimed at the (functional) recovery of a person with personal injury”.
More than medical recovery
It is expressly not only about healing. Recovery-oriented services also cover practical, psychological, emotional and social recovery – including getting back confidence and autonomy.
In practice that means concrete things: help with arranging facilities, guidance with returning to work, support at home, or someone who takes over the coordination for as long as you cannot do that yourself.
Who provides it
They are professional service providers, not volunteers and not part of the insurer. Since October 2022 there has been a dedicated professional organisation: the Vereniging Herstelgerichte Dienstverleners (VHD) (Association of Recovery-Oriented Service Providers).
Recovery-oriented service providers also belong to the groups that endorse the Gedragscode Behandeling Letselschade (Code of Conduct for Personal Injury Handling).
Who pays for it
This is the point that is most often missed. Recovery-oriented services come with a duty to pay on the part of the liable party and/or insurer. So it does not come out of your own pocket and it is not an amount that is later deducted from your compensation as if it were an advance either.
The underlying idea is that settling a claim is more than paying out money. Faster and better reintegration limits the damage – that is also in the interest of the insurer.
How you bring it up
Do not wait until the insurer brings it up, because that by no means always happens. Ask about it yourself, and do so early: the sooner recovery-oriented help starts, the more it yields.
Name specifically where you get stuck – not “I cannot cope”, but “I cannot get up the stairs”, “I cannot work it out with my employer about adapted work”, “the paperwork is piling up”. That makes it easier for the person handling your case to engage the right service provider.
It does not replace your compensation
Recovery-oriented services stand alongside the financial settlement; they are complementary to the compensation, not an alternative. So do not let yourself be talked into the idea that you “already receive help” and therefore have to settle for less. Your items of damage are established in the usual way. See assessing a compensation proposal.
Recovery-oriented services in Delft
Recovery takes place where you live: at your home in Delft, at your employer and with the facilities in the municipality. That is why it is worth knowing which desks in Delft belong here.
For facilities that do not fall under liability – home adaptations, transport, household support via the Wmo – Gemeente Delft (the municipality of Delft) is the point of contact. Always mention that a personal injury case is ongoing: municipality and insurer can settle costs between themselves, and you do not want one pointing to the other. The current information is on delft.nl.
If you do not know whether a particular form of help must be paid by the insurer or goes via the municipality, you can have that looked into free of charge at Het Juridisch Loket Den Haag (the Legal Desk The Hague) (Bezuidenhoutseweg 60, 2594 AW Den Haag), telephone 0900-8020. See het juridisch loket den haag.
If the insurer continues to refuse to pay for recovery-oriented help while liability is established, you can put that to the court as a defined point. For residents of Delft that is the Rechtbank Den Haag (locatie Delft) (the district court), Prins Clauslaan 60, 2595 AJ Den Haag. See rechtspraak.nl.
This information is general in nature and is not legal advice about your personal situation. Checked in August 2026 against the publications of De Letselschade Raad on recovery-oriented services.