Case law
Scheidsgerecht Gezondheidszorg
The Healthcare Arbitration Tribunal settles, through arbitration, disputes between parties active in healthcare: between care institutions themselves and between institutions and the individuals or partnerships affiliated with them. In practice these are often employment disputes involving directors and medical specialists, and governance disputes within an institution. Its panels combine chairs drawn from the judiciary with arbitrators from the healthcare sector. The same foundation also houses the Healthcare Governance Committee.
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What this source does not give you
The tribunal only has jurisdiction where the parties agreed to it in advance, in an employment contract, an admission agreement, a collective agreement, an institution's articles of association or a separate written agreement. And not every award becomes public: the rules leave publication to the tribunal's own judgement and only where an award is considered to be of more than incidental importance. What is published omits the names and places of residence of the parties and any other directly identifying details.
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Frequently asked questions
- Is a tribunal decision an arbitral award or binding advice?
- Under article 25 of the arbitration rules the tribunal rules by way of arbitral award, unless the parties expressly agreed on binding advice, unless they jointly requested binding advice at the start of the proceedings, or unless the dispute is one between the organs of an institution under a dispute clause in its articles of association; in that last case the decision is always binding advice.
- What is the practical difference between the two?
- With an arbitral award, no court proceedings are needed if a party fails to comply voluntarily. With binding advice they are: if a party does not honour the advice, the other party must still go to the ordinary courts to enforce compliance. For anyone assessing the enforcement route, this is the distinction that matters.
- Does the tribunal publish its decisions openly?
- Only in part. The original or a certified copy goes to each party by registered post. Only where the tribunal considers an award to be of more than incidental importance may it decide to publish it in a manner it deems appropriate, and then with the parties' names and places of residence and any other directly identifying details removed. Publication never precedes delivery of the award to the parties. The website carries annual collections of decisions going back to 1995.
- Is an appeal possible against a tribunal decision?
- The tribunal's arbitration rules provide for no appeal body: there is a single instance. A party who considers that the rules have been breached must object in writing within seven days of becoming aware of it, failing which the right to rely on that breach later in the proceedings lapses.
- What does the Healthcare Governance Committee do?
- On the written request of interested parties, the Governance Committee assesses whether a care organisation is acting in line with the principles of the healthcare governance code in a specific case, on a comply-or-explain basis. It can also advise the foundation's board and the participating sector associations on amending the code. Its decisions are published separately from the tribunal's.