Care providers establish often long term relationships with their clients. It is of paramount importance that the threshold for a complaint or dispute resolution is preferably low. Ideally this is not a ‘mini-trial’ in which care provider and client are opposed against each other, but a constructive dialogue at a round table guided by a skillful complaints officer. This is what has been introduced by the Healthcare Quality, Complaints and Disputes Act (the Wkkgz).
The new complaint system introduced with the Wkkgz applies to care covered by the Chronic Care Act (WLZ), the Healthcare Insurance Act (ZVW) and optionally can also apply to care based on the Social Support Act (WMO 2015).
In my opinion it is a missed opportunity that the legislator has not introduced a similar complaint procedure in the Youth Act, but instead has chosen the ‘mini-trial’ option here. Moreover, it is also confusing for care providers and clients to follow different complaints systems next to each other.
Finally, in psychiatric care where decisions of care providers can interfere with the right to self-determination there is a separate complaint procedure with a role for the Family Court. For all other run-of-the mill issues also in the psychiatric care the Wkkgz complaint procedure applies.

Since 2004 all students in Flemish universities and university colleges have the right to file an internal appeal within their institution against a negative study progress decision. This contribution gives an overview on what the current legal framework of such an internal appeals procedure looks like and aims to discuss some focal points (the composition of the committee, the hearing of a student, formal aspects when filing the appeal, …) when developing such a procedure.