In the first quarter of 2025, sickness absence stood at 5.8 per cent, with 22 per cent of it regarded by employees as wholly or partly work-related. The walk-in clinic with the occupational physician is therefore an important instrument for prevention and absence guidance. Even so, many questions remain in practice about access to a physician. Under the Working Conditions Act, employers must ensure that employees have access to an occupational physician, without the employer's involvement and in principle anonymously.
For you as an employer, HR professional or physician this is directly connected to good employment practice and to fitness for work. Especially now that pressure on occupational healthcare is rising, it matters to pick up signals early and give advice that is easy to reach. In this article you will read what a walk-in clinic involves, which statutory obligations come with it and how to arrange it properly under the basic contract for a healthy and employable workforce.
What a walk-in clinic is exactly
A walk-in clinic with the occupational physician is a preventive clinic that employees can use themselves when they have questions about their health in relation to work. In practice you also come across the terms working conditions clinic or preventive consultation. So it is not about absence guidance after a sickness report, but precisely about easily accessible advice before complaints grow into someone dropping out.
According to Arboportaal on the walk-in clinic (in Dutch), the employer must ensure that employees can see the occupational physician without the employer's permission. The NVAB on access to the occupational physician (in Dutch) confirms that this right also applies when someone is not absent and has no complaints at all.
That makes the walk-in clinic especially relevant in situations such as:
- early stress complaints or high workload
- physical complaints from posture or strain
- doubts about capacity with a chronic condition
- questions about resuming work after treatment
- concerns about bullying, social safety or tension at work
For employers this is an important instrument for helping prevent absence. It fits the figures from Statistics Netherlands on sickness absence (in Dutch): in 2024, 22 per cent of employees who were absent said their absence was wholly or partly work-related. High workload and physically heavy work played a clear part in that.
Is a walk-in clinic compulsory for employers?
Yes, answering the question literally: the employer is required to arrange access to the occupational physician, and a walk-in clinic is a much-used way of doing that.
The legal basis lies in the Working Conditions Act. As the Dutch government's business portal (in Dutch) explains, every employer must have an agreement with an occupational health service or physician. Employees must at the very least be able to go there for absence guidance, periodic occupational health examinations, pre-employment medical assessments and the walk-in clinic. Arboportaal on the basic contract (in Dutch) also names access to the physician as a compulsory element.
There is an important nuance: the law does not necessarily require a physical drop-in moment at a fixed location, but it does require effective access without the employer's permission. In practice that access is often arranged as a walk-in clinic, a preventive consultation by phone or another direct route to the physician or service. The arrangements have to be set down in the basic contract.
For employers who want to understand their wider obligations, this connects to our article on your obligations as an employer and our overview of what a basic occupational health contract involves.
What the employer has to arrange in concrete terms
If this is to be properly arranged in your organisation, it is not only about a contract on paper. Employees have to be able to use it in practice as well.
Free access without permission
The employee must be able to contact the physician or service themselves. The employer should not have to give permission for it. The NVAB questions and answers on law and regulation (in Dutch) is clear about this: employees must be able to make an appointment themselves and the contact details must be freely accessible.
In concrete terms that means, for instance:
- clear contact details on the intranet, in the staff handbook or on posters
- a simple route to an appointment, without involving the manager or HR
- telling employees that this right exists and may be used preventively
Setting it down in the basic contract
The arrangements about access to the physician have to be included in the basic contract with the occupational health service or physician. That contract is not optional. Employers are themselves responsible for its content. Our explanation of what an occupational physician actually does also sets out how preventive advice is part of that role.
No unnecessary thresholds
Access has to be effective. If employees can only make an appointment through several internal links, or if the clinic is practically unreachable, that undermines the intention of the law. It is precisely the low threshold that matters: asking for advice early should be easy.
Telling people actively
Simply including the possibility of an appointment in a contract is not enough. Employees have to know that the possibility exists. In practice we see that organisations can gain here through repeated communication, for instance during onboarding, in the absence policy and through the prevention officer.
What it means for employees
For employees this statutory right means above all that they do not have to wait until they drop out. They may approach the occupational physician as soon as work and health touch each other.
That is also possible while someone is simply at work. The NVAB page on visiting the occupational physician (in Dutch) explains that this right may be used preventively. Think of an employee with early burnout complaints, someone with back or shoulder complaints from screen work, or an employee with a medical condition who wants to discuss which adjustments would help them stay employable.
Important for employees as well:
- the employer's permission is not needed
- the employer does not have to be told about the visit
- feedback to the employer only happens with the employee's consent
That confidential character often lowers the threshold to raise the alarm in time. Which is exactly what can keep things from getting worse.
Privacy, anonymity and feedback
A frequent question is whether the employer gets to hear that an employee has been. In principle the answer is no.
The NVAB on access to the occupational physician (in Dutch) and the legal commentary by Stuiver & Weijling on the amendment to the Working Conditions Act (in Dutch) both stress that the employee can see the physician without the employer's permission and that feedback only takes place with the employee's consent.
In practice that means:
- the conversation falls under medical confidentiality
- information is recorded in the physician's medical file
- the employer receives no medical details
- discussion with the employer is only possible if the employee agrees
That matters for trust. Without that confidentiality, employees would be slower to seek help preventively.
The occupational physician's role at the walk-in clinic
The physician does not only assess complaints but looks above all at the relationship between health and work. That is what distinguishes this clinic from a visit to a general practitioner. The physician can advise on capacity, on resuming work, on adjustments at work, on preventive measures and on preventing absence.
Depending on the situation, the physician can for instance:
- explain the risks of workload
- advise on the workstation, the pace of work or the tasks
- discuss whether temporarily adjusted work is sensible
- judge whether further discussion with the employer would help
- refer on or confer with other professionals, if the employee agrees
For employers it is worth remembering that this is not an instrument of control but a preventive provision. Used well, the walk-in clinic increases the chance that problems are spotted early. In a labour market with scarcity that is all the more relevant. In our article on the shortage of occupational physicians in the Netherlands we look at the pressure on occupational healthcare and why clever prevention is gaining in value.
What happens if you do not comply?
When an employer does not arrange effective access to the occupational physician, that can have consequences. According to the legal summary by HVG Law on fines for non-compliance with the Working Conditions Act (in Dutch), the fine for not providing effective access to the physician can run to €1,500.
Quite apart from enforcement by the Netherlands Labour Authority, there are practical risks as well:
- employees come forward later, so complaints worsen
- absence may last longer
- managers miss a preventive route for work-related signals
- uncertainty about roles causes unrest in the organisation
So it is wise not only to comply legally but also to organise the clinic so that it works. Employers still to start may benefit from an overview of how engaging an occupational physician works and what it costs.
Practical application: making the clinic genuinely usable
An arrangement only works when employees actually find it. In practice it helps to make the walk-in clinic part of your wider approach to prevention and absence.
For employers
- Set down in the basic contract how employees have direct access.
- Communicate about the clinic periodically.
- Train managers so that they know they do not have to judge whether someone "may" go.
- Keep thresholds low, for instance with consultations by phone or online.
For employees
- Do not wait until you drop out if you notice that work is affecting your health.
- Use the clinic when you are in doubt or when complaints are just starting.
- Discuss with the physician whether and how you want to involve your employer.
For the physician or occupational health service
- Make access simple and visible.
- Make clear what employees may expect around privacy and feedback.
- Use the clinic as a preventive moment to spot absence and employability problems early.
The value lies precisely in the combination of clear access, trust and early advice. That way the statutory obligation is not only met but is genuinely useful for employee and employer alike.
Give employees direct, easy access to the physician, so you prevent drop-out and strengthen employability.
With a well-organised walk-in clinic you make it easy for employees to seek support in time, while as an organisation you work deliberately on healthier work and less absence.
Key takeaways
- Make sure employees have easy, direct access to the occupational physician, even when there is no absence.
- A walk-in clinic does not have to be a physical drop-in moment; what matters is that employees can make an appointment themselves, without permission.
- Set the arrangements down in the basic contract and secure a clear, professional way of working.
- Make contact details, availability and the way the clinic works easy to find and well known throughout the organisation.
- Safeguard privacy: employees must be able to discuss work and health in confidence, without the employer being informed automatically.
- Bring the clinic to people's attention actively and repeatedly, so that signals are picked up early and fitting support is offered.
By investing together in a visible, accessible and confidential walk-in clinic, we build step by step towards sustainable employability, healthy work and prevention at the moment it is really needed.