Registers
BIG-register (CIBG)
The BIG register is the statutory, public register of healthcare professionals in the Netherlands, run by the CIBG, an agency of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Registration confers the right to use the protected professional title and to perform independently the reserved procedures attached to the profession. You can search by BIG number or by name and profession; we query the register's official search service.
Go to the publisher’s websiteWhich products consult this source
LEO — Direct consultation
The source is consulted directly while the work is being done.
ZIA — Direct consultation
The source is consulted directly while the work is being done.
Availability depends on your organisation’s configuration and access rights.
What this source does not give you
The register tells you whether someone is registered and whether a measure or restriction of competence applies — not whether they do good work. It expressly does not handle complaints about healthcare professionals; complaints and disciplinary proceedings run through other channels. Professions outside article 3 of the Individual Healthcare Professions Act do not appear, so a professional who is not found is not automatically unqualified.
Legal domains for which LEO consults this source
Dutch legal domains; each link opens the domain page on leo.prudai.com.
Frequently asked questions
- Which professions appear in the BIG register?
- The eleven so-called article 3 professions: pharmacist, doctor, physiotherapist, healthcare psychologist, clinical technologist, orthopedagogue-generalist, physician assistant, psychotherapist, dentist, nurse and midwife. Only these professions have a title protected through the register and fall under the disciplinary regime of the Individual Healthcare Professions Act.
- Does BIG registration say anything about a professional's quality?
- No. Registration means the professional holds the required qualification and, where applicable, the required work experience, and is therefore authorised. It is a competence check, not a quality judgment on the care someone provides. The register does not supervise and does not assess individual treatment.
- Can I see whether there are complaints about someone?
- No. The BIG register does not handle complaints about healthcare professionals and does not display them. What is visible are imposed measures and restrictions of competence: the register publishes an overview of professionals subject to a measure, and following a removal from the register the person may no longer use the professional title.
- My healthcare provider is not listed — is that a problem?
- Not necessarily. Many care professions fall outside the eleven article 3 professions and are simply not registered; that says nothing about their competence within their own profession. What does matter is removal: once a registration has been struck, for instance after a disciplinary measure, the professional title may no longer be used. So check on name and profession before drawing a conclusion.
- What do LEO and ZIA use this register for?
- To establish competence and profession where that matters legally or clinically: the treating physician or expert in a personal-injury or medical-liability file, the company or insurance physician in an employment dispute, or the registration status of a professional within an organisation. It is verification of a fact, not an assessment of a person.