The Healthcare Quality, Complaints and Disputes Act came into effect on 1 January 2016. There is a transitional period for some parts of the act, to give care providers time to make the necessary arrangements.
All care providers
- must have procedures in place by 1 July 2016 for internal reporting of lack of due care and incidents involving patient safety;
- must ensure that their complaints system complies with the new act and link up with an accredited complaints commission, by 1 January 2017 at the latest;
- must have signed care quality agreements with all care professionals that work for them, from 1 January 2017. The agreements set care quality standards that care professionals must meet. That way, care providers can guarantee the quality of care and ensure that complaints are dealt with properly. An employment contract will suffice for salaried employees.
The other sections of the act came into effect on 1 January 2016. For a summary of all the measures that care providers must take, go to: What must care providers do to ensure compliance with the Healthcare Quality Complaints and Disputes Act (in Dutch). (this link will send you to the Dutch page of what care providers must do to ensure compliance).
What care providers must comply with the Wkkgz?
The Healthcare Quality, Complaints and Disputes Act applies to all care providers, from large institutions like care homes and hospitals to independent care professionals like GPs and physiotherapists. The Act also applies to providers of alternative medicine and cosmetic treatments. This makes it easier for the Healthcare Inspectorate to prevent abuses in these sectors.
The Act does not apply to care for which municipalities are responsible, such as home help and youth care.
Source: https://www.government.nl/topics/quality-of-healthcare/contents/healthcare-quality-complaints-and-disputes-act-wkkgz (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport) (this link will send you to the page of health care quality complaints and disputes).
If you are a care provider and want to subscribe to a complaint commission, please contact (this link will send you to our contactpage) us.
NOTE: Our procedure and all other information on this website is in Dutch.