Quality of care
As a mental health practice, we want to offer our clients high-quality care. In addition to our university graduate psychologists with various classifications, our team consists of BIG-registered health care psychologists, psychotherapists and clinical psychologists, who are all under the close supervision of the government and the Dutch Healthcare Authority (de Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit, NZa) and relevant professional associations. There is also regular collaboration between a psychiatrist for psychiatric consultation and drug treatment. Quality assurance and enhancement by the clinicians consist of individual supervision once a week and a literature discussion on psychoanalytic theory and psychoanalytic therapy once a week. An indication staff meets monthly in the presence of a psychiatrist.
Quality Charter
From 1 January 2017, all health care providers are required to record the quality of their practice in a quality charter. You can find our current and approved Quality Charter (in Dutch) on our website.
Wkkgz
The government has laid down by law what good care means. This also means that you have to know what happens if you have a complaint about the care provided. This is laid down in the Wet Kwaliteit, klachten en geschillen zorg (Quality, Complaints and Disputes Health Care Act), the Wkkgz, which is also referred to as the Complaints Act. For more information about this Wkkgz, see our website, on the page Rights and obligations.
- In line with this, our practice meets the following legal conditions:
- For all new employees who provide care to our clients, we carry out the Vergewisplicht (Make Sure-Obligation) via the government (IGJ) and ask them to request a Verklaring omtrent Gedrag (Certificate of Conduct) (VOG) and return it to us. We have a written agreement with all caregivers who work for our practice.
- We have a procedure for the safe reporting and registration of incidents, the investigation of incidents and the decision to take any measures. The client is always informed of an incident within 24 hours and the incident is mentioned in the client’s file.
- We report every calamity and every violent situation within a care relationship and every termination of an employment relationship due to serious dysfunction to the Health Care Inspection.
Privacy Act AVG
The Algemene Verordering Gegevensbescherming (AVG) applies as of 25 May 2018, also known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The AVG reinforces the privacy rights of all European citizens. With the AVG, more emphasis is placed on the responsible processing of personal data.
You will find our privacy policy in the footer on our website and this makes clear how we meet the requirements arising from the AVG. We are focused on handling your personal information with great care, just as we appreciate it very much if others handle our personal information with great care.
Reporting code domestic violence and child abuse
We adhere to the Meldcode huiselijk geweld en kindermishandeling (Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Reporting Code). It is the professional standard to report to Veilig Thuis (Safe Home) if there are suspicions of acute and structural insecurity. We determine on the basis of a step-by-step plan from the reporting code whether a report must be made at Veilig Thuis and whether sufficient help can be deployed.
For more information see https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/huiselijk-geweld/meldcode.
Professional associations
One or more caregivers within our team are members of the following associations: NVP, NVPP, VGCt, NIP, NVGP, LVVP, NPAV.
LVVP inspections
Inspection is a key instrument for quality assurance. For members of the Landelijke Vereniging voor Vrijgevestigde Psychologen en Psychotherapeuten, the LVVP (National Association for Established Free Psychologists and Psychotherapists) a five-yearly visit is a mandatory part of membership. On May 6, 2019, Mrs S. Günther-Rienks as the holder of the practice successfully participated in the five-year practice inspection process of the LVVP.
No contracts with health insurers
Good care requires care and attention to the individual needs of the client. Requirements from health insurers make it increasingly difficult to meet these important criteria. That is why, within our practice, care providers have decided to work contract-free or that they are not limited by health insurers in providing high-quality care. Experience shows that this improves the quality of the treatment. This means also in case of complex care, we cannot provide your health insurer with precise information about treatment content, treatment duration and the deployment ratio between the practitioner in charge and other mental health practitioners before treatment starts.
Waiting period
When the waiting period is too long, you can always contact the health care provider, or your health insurance company to ask for waiting list mediation. Your health insurer can also help you. Within approximately four weeks after the first contact you should get an interview, and within 10 weeks after the first interview, your therapy should start. These are the maximum acceptable waiting periods that have been jointly agreed on by healthcare providers and health insurers.
The client council is there for you!
Every healthcare institution must have a client council. That is regulated in the Wet medezeggenschap cliënten zorginstellingen (Participation of Clients Healthcare Institutions Act) (Wmcz). As the name of this law indicates, the client council is there to strengthen the participation of clients in healthcare.
Our client council is representative of the clients* of the Practice for Psychotherapy Amsterdam and the like. and consists of (former) clients, family or volunteers who feel closely involved in our practice. The duties of our client council members are laid down in our Huishoudelijk reglement (Rules of Procedure). An important task of the client council is to prepare written advice for decisions that our practice will take.
While we as a healthcare provider are concerned with what the law and changing circumstances demand of us, the client council is only focused on the interests of you as a client. Our client council is therefore a good discussion partner for us who thinks along with you about the quality of care and how we can further improve our services to you as a client. In short, the client council is there for you!
*The client council is not a complaints or disputes committee. However, if the same complaint occurs regularly, the client council can pay attention to this and look for a solution, because it is a common client interest.
