News item | 29-01-2024 | 10:09
Today, the internet consultation has started on the bill to change the professional structure of the psychological professions in the Individual Healthcare Professions Act (BIG).
The purpose of the bill is to clarify the profession structure so that patients and referrers can find the right practitioner more quickly. It is proposed to create one broad basic profession for psychological care: the healthcare psychologist-generalist. This change should give professionals and patients more clarity as to who they can turn to for the most appropriate treatment in psychological care. The widely supported advice ‘A renewed structure for academic professions in psychological care’ of professional associations the Netherlands Institute of Psychologists (NIP), the Dutch Association for Psychotherapy (NVP), the National Association of Independent Psychologists and Psychotherapists (LVVP) and P3NL is the direct reason for the bill.
Internet consultation
The draft bill to amend the BIG Act went into internet consultation on January 29, 2024. Anyone can express their ideas about the proposal via internet consultation. The consultation closes on February 26, 2024. After the consultation period, all responses will be reviewed and the proposal will be adjusted if necessary. The bill then goes via the Council of Ministers to the Council of State and then to the House of Representatives and Senate. The intended date of entry into force of the new professional structure is January 1, 2026. This does not apply to the provisions regarding psychotherapists. Due to a transition period of five years, these provisions will enter into force later.
See the Internet consultation Simplification of the Occupational Structure of Psychological Professions Act for more information and to respond.
Find the right practitioner faster
The bill means that one broad basic profession for psychological care will be included in the BIG Act: the healthcare psychologist-generalist. In this new profession, existing healthcare psychologists and NIP Child and Adolescent Psychologists are brought together. The current basic profession of psychotherapist and the specialty of clinical psychologist will also merge into the new specialty of clinical psychologist-psychotherapist. In the same process, professional associations create a private overview register in which BIG-registered psychological professionals can be regarded as providers of methodological, target group or frame of reference-related expertise. This also helps patients find the right practitioner for psychological care more quickly. The bill does not make any changes to other professions in the BIG Act, such as the educational psychologist-generalist, psychiatrist and clinical neuropsychologist.
Integrated Care Agreement
The amendment to the BIG Act is in line with the agreements in the Integrated Care Agreement to optimally use the available capacity. The simplification of the psychological profession structure in the BIG Act makes broader deployment of the right practitioners possible more quickly. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the professional associations in psychological care are working together on the changes in the professional structure. The preparations for the change are being carried out by the NIP, NVP and their partners in the Psychological Care Professional Structure program. It is unique that the professional associations for psychologists and psychotherapists work in close collaboration to realize both the preparation and the actual implementation of the change in the professional structure in psychological care.