In 2010, UZ Leuven was to first Flemish hospital to take on the challenge of letting the Joint Commission International (JCI) assess the hospital. If an inspection by JCI shows that the quality of the hospital meets the high JCI standards, it is awarded an accreditation label. This year UZ Leuven was awarded this prestigious quality label for the fourth consecutive time and this for the coming three years.
Four quality labels in one go
In addition, UZ Leuven is the first hospital in Flanders to own not one but four JCI-labels. UZ Leuven was accredited as a hospital but in addition the care for multiple trauma (polytrauma), stroke (CVA) or spinal problem patients was assessed. Thanks to the commitment of all UZ Leuven employees, the hospital was awarded a certification label for both the hospital-wide assessment and the assessment of the care programmes.
Strong quality culture
“The relentless commitment of all employees has enabled us to obtain this label. We are tremendously grateful to everyone for this. Thanks to our strong quality culture, we are able to lift our patient care and its results to a higher level time and time again”, CEO prof. dr. Wim Robberecht says. “We can be especially proud of this fourth edition. It is obviously not the first time we receive the label, but with a report card of only some 10 remarks, this year, we've done better than before. Moreover, we did not only get the global accreditation for the hospital, we were also awarded three care programme certifications.”
Joint Commission International
Joint Commission International or JCI is an organisation that determines international standards, the so-called JCI standards, for quality of care and patient safety. There are 300 standards that are assessed on the basis of 1,300 objective measurable elements. If the JCI-inspection shows that the healthcare organisation's quality system meets its standards, the organisation will be awarded a hospital accreditation for following three years.
JCI inspects that daily operation of the hospital. Inspectors follow individual patients during all aspects of the treatment and care. Both staff and patients are involved. This distinguishes JCI from other accreditations and certificates, that operate with a managerial/organisational focus. JCI's approach focusses on the hospital operations in all its aspects.