The Jan Yperman Hospital wants to sharpen the focus on patient experience, participation and patient-oriented care.
Since 2021, a Patient Experience Officer has been appointed, as it were a patient experience service. In close collaboration with the quality service, a process (We, Gastvrij) is gradually being rolled out within the hospital based on awareness-raising, coaching and patient empowerment. A hospitable and warm care is central because you never make a first impression a second time.
The Jan Yperman Hospital took part in a pilot project led by KU Leuven and Kom op tegen Kanker, with the aim of embedding a mango culture in the organization. Mango moments stand for a random act of kindness to a patient, but a patient can also (unconsciously) offer a mango moment to a healthcare provider. It is precisely this interaction that we find so important. In a hospital it is of course about the patient, but in the interaction between patient and care provider lies the soul of the care or as Dirk De Wachter puts it in the book 'Mangomoment': "it takes two to mango".
Jan Yperman Hospital is a member of the Patient Empowerment non-profit association.
One in twelve people in Flanders are deaf or hard of hearing. People can become deaf or hard of hearing at any age and this may be due to a variety of causes. Deaf and hard of hearing people do not usually have problems communicating with one other, but in wider society the opposite is true. The requirement to wear a mouth covering also makes lip-reading impossible. This is all the more reason to look into alternatives to optimise communication with deaf and hard of hearing people.
We asked the Ypres Urban Advisory Council for Accessibility, or ISAT for short, for advice. We also partnered with CAB Flanders (Flanders Assistance Office for the Deaf).
Badges
Anyone who would like to make it clear to our staff and doctors that they are deaf or hard of hearing and that articulating clearly makes a big difference can obtain a free badge at the reception desk.
The badges are important to indicate that you are deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, it is equally important as a 'hearing person’ to know how best to communicate with people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
To this end, we use the information sheet, produced by UNIA (Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities) (in Dutch).
Interpreters
Those who are deaf or hard of hearing can use an interpreter to communicate with people who can hear. The VAPH [Flanders Agency for Disabled Persons] may grant a right to interpretation hours to provide an interpreter for the deaf and hard of hearing in everyday social situations.
The Patients' Rights Act states that every patient has the right to be informed in clear language. Language certainly includes sign language. It is therefore up to the hospital to establish good communication between the patient and healthcare provider, even if that patient is deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, the cost incurred for this interpreting service can be charged to the hospital.
Do you have an appointment with a healthcare provider at the hospital and wish to use an interpreter? Then you have the choice to use an on-site sign language interpreter or a remote interpreter. Usually, you already have a (regular) interpreter of your own. Difficult consultations are still preferably done with a live interpreter on site. Remote interpreters have less understanding of the context and can also only be used within office hours.
Feel free to speak to your interpreter yourself or book a remote interpreter via the remote interpreter app from CAB Flanders. Your own tablets sometimes have connection problems. Therefore, we provide tablets within the hospital to use the remote interpreting app. Would you inform us of your request? This way, we can reserve a tablet for you and we will pay the invoice.
Click here to request an interpreter.
We want to give the patient a voice, but also support the care provider in this. We currently do not have a patient council. We certainly hope to implement this in the further roll-out of the 'We, Hospitable' process. Are you someone who regularly comes to the hospital for yourself or as a caregiver? Can you transcend your personal experience and constructively translate these experiences into our policies? If you feel called to join our patient council in the future, send us your motivation letter to patientenraad@yperman.net.
The JYZ participates in the Flemish Indicators Project for Patients and Professionals (the VIP² project), an initiative initiated by the Flemish Government, the Flemish Association of Chief Physicians and the hospital umbrella organizations Zorgnet and Icuro.Indicators were developed for this project, including patient satisfaction.
Indicators, for example on patient satisfaction, were developed for this project.
Jan Yperman Hospital actively participates in this project. The indicators and results for JYZ are published on the zorgkwaliteit website.
Patient experience and patient satisfaction are surveyed and investigated in multiple ways and levels within JYZ:
Surveys of the Flemish Government
To map our patient experiences, we participate in the Flemish Patient Survey (VPP).
Developed by the Flemish Government and the Flemish Patients Platform, these questionnaires gauge various elements that are important for both in-hospital and outpatient admissions. Because this benchmarking allows us to compare our hospital with many other Flemish hospitals, we know every year what our own strengths and areas for improvement are. These and other quality indicators can be viewed here.
Surveys by department
We also identify needs, concerns, and experiences through questionnaires drawn up in-house for each department, to which we link improvement points for each department.
Patient panels
Once or twice a year, patient volunteers share their experiences in a patient panel. We discuss a wide range of topics, to which we then link concrete patient experiences. The aim of these patient panels is to listen to patients’ experiences and set up targeted improvement projects.
Ombudsman service
When experiences culminate in complaints, patients can share their experiences with the ombuds service, which draws up a personalised plan of action for each report.
