Setting up a healthcare complaints committee: what is required and what is wise
In Dutch healthcare, four laws each ask for something different: the Wkkgz a complaints officer and a disputes body, the Wzd, Wvggz and Youth Act a genuine complaints committee. That causes a good deal of confusion. For each regime: what is required, who carries it out and which deadlines apply.
Why healthcare has two tracks
Since the Wkkgz, the Dutch Healthcare Quality, Complaints and Disputes Act, the principle has been: first resolve the complaint informally, and only then decide formally. The independent complaints officer receives the complaint and mediates, the provider gives a reasoned decision within the statutory period, and the recognised disputes body is the binding final step. The traditional complaints committee disappeared from the general law as a result, but not from practice. It remains mandatory for involuntary care under the Wzd (Care and Coercion Act), compulsory mental health care under the Wvggz (Compulsory Mental Health Care Act) and youth care under the Youth Act (Jeugdwet), and many providers keep one voluntarily elsewhere as a careful investigative step. Which requirements apply to your organisation therefore depends on the regime. Explore them below.
Many healthcare organisations fall under several regimes at once. An elderly care provider with Wzd locations needs the mandatory external committee as well as the Wkkgz procedure.
Setting up your own committee or joining one
The trade-off is the same as in any sector, with one twist specific to healthcare: the deadlines. A complaint about involuntary care must be decided within two weeks if the care is still ongoing, and otherwise within four weeks. With deadlines like these, you cannot arrange afresh for each case who sits on the committee and when the hearing takes place: the committee and the schedule must already be in place. Small and medium-sized providers therefore usually join a national or regional committee, while large institutions generally set up their own committee with an external chair. How to make that choice is explained in internal or external complaints committee, and how to build the committee step by step in our complaints committee guide. If you are looking beyond healthcare, you will find the options for every sector in setting up a disputes committee and the basis of any set of rules in drafting complaints regulations. Staff complaints about behaviour at work, the fourth regime above, follow rules of their own.
Medical data deserves its own environment
Healthcare complaint files almost always contain health data, and therefore special category personal data under the GDPR. Practice is messy: complaints arrive at reception, by email and through family members, and then circulate through the mailboxes of practitioners, managers and the committee. A single environment in which only the committee and its secretary can see the case file, with a data processing agreement and a record of who viewed what, is not only easier to defend to the regulator but also faster: both parties work from the same documents, rather than from attachments sent round by email.
Frequently asked questions
No. The Wkkgz requires complaints regulations, an independent complaints officer and affiliation with a recognised disputes body, but not a complaints committee. Many providers still keep a committee so that more serious complaints are investigated carefully. Note, however, that a complaints committee is mandatory for involuntary care under the Wzd, compulsory care under the Wvggz and youth care under the Youth Act.
The complaints officer is the accessible first point of contact under the Wkkgz: free of charge for the complainant and focused on support, information and mediation between client and care provider. The officer does not decide on the complaint, but tries to resolve it before a formal decision or a referral to the disputes body is needed. Many complaints are settled at this stage.
An independent body, recognised by the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, to which a client can turn if the provider's complaints handling does not resolve the matter. The disputes body issues a binding ruling and can award compensation up to the statutory maximum. Every provider must be affiliated with such a body, and different bodies are recognised for different branches of care.
Under the Wkkgz, the provider must give a written, reasoned decision within six weeks of receiving the complaint. That period can be extended once by four weeks, and after that only in consultation with the complainant. Under the Wzd and the Wvggz, shorter periods of two to four weeks apply to the complaints committee, depending on whether the contested decision is still in effect.
Yes, and that is the usual route. Trade and professional associations offer collective complaints regulations with a shared complaints officer and collective affiliation with a recognised disputes body. Providers covered by the Wzd, the Wvggz or the Youth Act can likewise join a national or regional complaints committee rather than form their own.
Healthcare complaint files almost always contain health data, which is special category personal data under the GDPR. That calls for an environment in which only the committee and its secretary can access the case file, a data processing agreement with every external party, set retention periods and a log of who viewed what. Medical records should never circulate through ordinary mailboxes or shared folders.
Adminio supports complaints officers and complaints committees in healthcare. Complaints come in through every channel, case files are shielded per person involved, and the Wkkgz, Wzd and Wvggz deadlines are visible for each case. The assistant gives the committee legislation, previous advice and rulings to hand, and the figures for the annual report come from what has been recorded for each complaint.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Obligations and deadlines can differ from case to case: always check the current legislation. Sources (in Dutch): Dutch government (Wkkgz) and KCOZ. Last updated: .