Bishop Gerard de Korte says the Roman Catholic church's telephone helpline Hulp en Recht is improving its service for victims of sexual abuse.

Speaking on television programme Kruispunt on Sunday evening, the bishop said the helpline will be better manned and religious counselling will now also be available from personnel with a pastoral background.

For the past three weeks, ongoing research by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and NRC Handelsblad has revealed a history of sexual abuse in Dutch Roman Catholic boarding schools going back decades.

There has been much criticism of the poor availability of the helpline in recent weeks, with victims of abuse often being confronted with a recorded message telling them to submit an email. The helpline has received over 600 reports in recent weeks from people who say they were sexually abused by clergy or witnessed abuse in Catholic institutions.

Bishop De Korte has been named by the Dutch conference of bishops as the church's contact person for external investigations into abuse. 

He told Kruispunt that he would like the Deetman Commission, which is carrying out an independent investigation into sexual abuse within the church, to look at the working methods of the helpline as well. This is seen as a reaction to the criticism of Hulp en Recht about complaints about abuse simply leading back to the people responsible for the institutions the callers are complaining about.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide