A website for your mental health practice, honest about the wait.
A mental health practice looking for a new website is rarely short of referrals. On 1 October 2024 the NZa counted 108,878 places on ggz waiting lists, and of the people waiting for an intake appointment only 33 per cent were within the four-week Treeknorm.
So your website mainly has to help people wait well: show whether someone fits your practice, how long it takes and what they can do in the meantime. It also has to show the waiting times the NZa asks of you, without anyone retyping them by hand every month.
What we hear most often.
Three problems that keep coming back, in the words of the people who deal with them.
Referrals that do not fit
“We get referral letters for problems we do not treat at all.”
A referral without a GP letter, someone under eighteen, a question that belongs in specialist care while you offer basic ggz: each mismatch costs a conversation and a referral back. A site that says up front what you do and do not treat prevents some of that.
Keeping waiting times current is manual work
“Every month someone copies the waiting times from the EPD onto the website.”
Intake and treatment waiting times, per location and per diagnosis group, and kept current. It usually runs through a spreadsheet and whoever manages the website. A table that is months old gives people the wrong picture and brings in phone calls.
People on the list hear nothing
“People call to ask whether they are still on the list, and what they can do until then.”
Someone who is waiting wants to know they have not been forgotten. Information on the practice mental health nurse at the GP, waiting-list mediation through the insurer and what to do in a crisis belongs on the site, so the practice is not explaining it on the phone each time.
Try it yourself.
A complete example website for a fictional organisation, with a visitor side and a team side.
Praktijk De LuwteHonest waiting times that keep themselves current.Praktijk De Luwte is a fictional group practice for psychology and psychotherapy in the invented town of Vlietstad, with two locations. The website shows how referrals, waiting times and coverage can be made clear without the site ever asking about complaints or symptoms. Every page says where someone in crisis can turn: 113, their own GP or out-of-hours GP service, and 112 in acute danger.
As a visitor
- Is De Luwte right for you?A referral guide with practical questions about age, GP letter and insurer. It shows which route applies and ends with a checklist for the referral.
- The waiting-times tableIntake and treatment waiting times per location and diagnosis group, in weeks, with the date of the last update.
- Costs and coverageChoose an insurer and read what contracted or non-contracted care means for your reimbursement, in plain language.
For each referral the team sees whether the GP letter and insurer details are complete. The intake decision stays with a clinician. From the same waiting list, a panel calculates the waiting times for the website, so publishing becomes a by-product of the list you already keep.
See the team sideRead how Praktijk De Luwte is put together. The organisation is fictional and the photos are stock; the way it works is real.
What we check first.
Before we design anything, we go through your current website for the points that are often missed in your sector. With the source alongside.
Waiting times on your own website
The NZa states that ggz providers must publish their waiting times on their own website. We check whether yours are easy to find, correct per location and show a recent date. Since 1 January 2026, single-location providers no longer submit waiting times to the NZa by hand; providers with more than one location still do, monthly before the tenth.
The quality statement (kwaliteitsstatuut)
Since 2017, ggz providers have had their own quality statement, which they publish. The national Kwaliteitsstatuut GGZ version 4.0 is the current version; version 3.0 lapsed on 1 January 2026. We check which version your site shows and whether it is easy to find.
Prices and contracts per insurer
Under the NZa regulation TH/NR-035, you inform clients before treatment about relevant prices, any contract with their insurer and payments they make themselves. For non-contracted care that is exactly what people ask. We check whether your site makes this clear per insurer.
BIG numbers for clinicians
Healthcare psychologist and psychotherapist are protected titles. Anyone named in a professional capacity, including on the practice website, makes their BIG registration number public. We go through your team page with that in mind.
Complaints and the referral form
The Wkkgz requires a complaints procedure and membership of a disputes body, which clients must be told about in a suitable way; a findable page is the usual route. A referral form with open text fields attracts health data, which is special-category data under the GDPR. We look at which questions are really needed.
This is an explanation, not legal advice. Whether a rule applies to your organisation depends on what you provide and how it is funded; we check that together.
How we go about it.
Start small, measure, and only then expand. The same four steps as in your plan.
Introduction
25 minutes with Sharif. You explain how referrals come in today and how you keep the waiting list. We look at your current waiting-times page together.
Working session and baseline
With your practice support or secretary we go through a week of referrals, without any client data. Together we choose one measure, such as the share of referrals that do not fit or the time spent updating waiting times.
Prototype
A working referral guide or waiting-times table with fictional locations, clinicians and weeks. Nothing is connected to your EPD yet.
Test and decide
Clinicians and administrative staff test it. Based on the measure, you choose to stop, adjust or expand, for example with a connection if your EPD allows it.
Questions we often get.
Can the website take our waiting times from the EPD?
Only if your EPD makes that data available through an integration or export and your practice grants access. We find that out first. If it is not possible, a simple entry screen for your administrative staff can already make updating much quicker.
Does the referral guide decide whether someone needs treatment?
No. The guide only asks practical things, such as age, GP letter and insurer, and never asks about complaints. Whether someone is taken on is decided by a clinician. In a crisis the site points to 113, the GP or 112.
Why are there no prices?
Because the scope differs for every organisation. After an introduction you receive a written quote, and nothing is invoiced until you have agreed to it.
Further reading.
Practical guides to the rules above, with sources. The guides are in Dutch.
Websites for other sectors.
Each sector has its own example and its own points to check.
- Websites for home care and community nursingFor home-care organisations and community nursing
- Websites for day care and care farmsFor day care, meeting centres and care farms
- Websites for physiotherapists and physiotherapy practicesFor physiotherapists, group practices and practices with more than one location
- Website for a dental practice: honest access and clear pricesFor dental practices, dental hygienists and oral care centres
- Website for maternity care: registration, planning and recruitmentFor maternity care organisations and agencies