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General number
057 35 35 35
Visting hours
3 p.m.-7.30 p.m.
General number
057 35 35 35
Visting hours
3 p.m.-7.30 p.m.
The Jan Yperman Hospital wants to sharpen the focus on patient experience, participation and patient-oriented care.
Jan Yperman Hospital aims to strengthen its focus on experience, participation, and person-centred care. Since 2021, a Patient Experience Officer has been appointed to develop a policy in these areas. Over the past years, this policy has taken shape in collaboration with various departments such as nursing units, the quality department, and the ombuds service.
Patient Experience Officer Ann-Sophie Depuydt strives to position the perspective of the care recipient alongside all other perspectives within the hospital.
“We want to better understand how patients feel when interacting with the hospital, but above all, we want to learn from this. What are we already doing well? What can we still improve? What expectations do people have when they come into contact with the hospital, as patients, family members, or loved ones?”─ Ann-Sophie Depuydt, Patient Experience Officer
Within Jan Yperman Hospital, patient experience is one of the five core building blocks for achieving even better care. These objectives are visually represented in the “poppy.”
The patient experience policy is based on four pillars: experience, information provision, connection, and participation. These pillars focus not only on the care recipient, but also on their relatives, external visitors, and others.
The aim of this pillar is to map the physical, social, and emotional experience before, during, and after contact with the hospital and to improve it where needed, so that the care recipient can be relieved as much as possible.
This includes all touchpoints: from searching for information and making an appointment, to preparation and admission, treatment, discharge, and aftercare at home.
In autumn 2026, work will begin on the inner patio to create a pleasant, calming, and restorative green area for patients, relatives, staff, and visitors.
Jan Yperman Hospital is also committed to being attentive to people with disabilities. To this end, it consulted the Ieper Municipal Advisory Council for Accessibility (ISAT) and established a partnership with CAB Vlaanderen (Flemish Assistance Bureau for the Deaf).
Anyone who wishes to clearly indicate to staff and doctors that they are deaf or hard of hearing—and that clear articulation makes a big difference—can obtain a free badge at the registration or reception desk.
These badges help signal hearing impairment. It is equally important that hearing individuals know how to communicate effectively with deaf or hard-of-hearing people. For this, the hospital uses an information sheet developed by UNIA (Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities).
Jan Yperman Hospital participates in a pilot project led by KU Leuven and Kom op tegen Kanker, aimed at embedding a “mango culture” within the organisation.
Mango moments are random acts of kindness towards a care recipient, but a care recipient can also (sometimes unknowingly) offer a mango moment to a caregiver. This interaction is what we value most.
In a hospital, care revolves around the patient, but it is in the interaction between patient and caregiver that the essence of care lies. As Dirk De Wachter describes it in the book Mangomoment:
“it takes two to mango.”
Jan Yperman Hospital is a member of the non-profit organisation Patient Empowerment.
Welcoming care: this is what we all strive for. Who are we? Wyder zyn Jan Yperman!
People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use an interpreter to communicate with hearing individuals. The Flemish Agency for Persons with Disabilities (VAPH) can grant entitlement to interpreter hours in daily life situations. Information is also available in Flemish Sign Language.
Patient rights legislation states that every patient has the right to be informed in a clear language, including sign language. It is therefore the hospital’s responsibility to ensure proper communication between care recipient and caregiver, also for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing. The cost of interpreter services can be charged to the hospital.
If you have an appointment and wish to use an interpreter, you can choose between an on-site sign language interpreter or a remote interpreter. Complex conversations are preferably conducted with a live interpreter. Remote interpreters have less context and are only available during office hours.
You can contact your interpreter personally or book a remote interpreter via the “afstandstolk” app from CAB Vlaanderen. Personal tablets may cause connection issues; therefore, tablets are available at the hospital. Let us know your request so we can reserve one and cover the costs.
The second pillar concerns information provision. It is essential to communicate clearly, timely, and understandably. This reduces uncertainty for the care recipient and builds trust.
Through information provision, we also want to guide patients within the experience context, as expectations may sometimes differ from what is possible in a hospital setting due to safety or infrastructure reasons.
New initiatives related to information provision are always developed in collaboration with the hospital’s communication department. It is also important that the patient understands the role of the Patient Experience Officer.
In addition, the patient perspective is integrated into staff and doctor training by including experience, participation, and person-centred care in the hospital’s training programmes.
This pillar focuses on relationships and collaboration. Patient experience is not a solo project of the Patient Experience Officer. Various partnerships are needed to strengthen experience, participation, and person-centred care.
The dialogue with care recipients and their relatives is central. This was initiated through the creation of the patient advisory council.
We aim to give care recipients a voice while also supporting healthcare professionals. Therefore, the patient advisory council was established at the end of 2024.
It consists of 12 permanent members and meets quarterly around various themes. After each meeting, advice is provided to the executive committee.
Are you interested or do you have questions about the patient advisory council?
Staff members and volunteers are also an important source of inspiration and experience. Their voices are essential in shaping experience, participation, and person-centred care.
By building consultation structures both inside and outside the hospital, we broaden our perspective.
Within the hospital, regular meetings take place with the quality department in the Quality & Safety working group, as well as with the training coordinator and the ombuds service.
The Patient Experience Officer is active in several external groups, including the patient experience working group within the Flemish Hospital Network and the E17 network, in which our hospital participates alongside eight other hospitals.
Participation in symposia, inspiration days, and conferences supports continuous learning.
The goal of the fourth pillar is to actively involve stakeholders so that they become partners in shaping experience and help build a culture around it.
While it is essential to involve the patient, their relatives or informal caregivers also play a crucial role in the care and recovery process.
JYZ participates in the Flemish Indicator Project for Patients and Professionals (VIP²), an initiative of the Flemish Government, the Flemish Association of Chief Medical Officers, and hospital networks Zorgnet and Icuro.
Indicators have been developed for this project, including patient satisfaction.
Jan Yperman Hospital actively contributes to this project. The indicators and results are published on the patient satisfaction website. Patient experience and patient satisfaction are measured and analysed in multiple ways and at different levels within JYZ.
To map the experiences of our patients, we participate in the Flemish Patient Survey (VPP).
These questionnaires were developed by the Flemish Government and the Flemish Patient Platform and assess various important aspects, both during hospital stays and outpatient care.
Through benchmarking with many other Flemish hospitals, we gain yearly insights into our strengths and areas for improvement.
Jan Yperman Hospital collaborates with various patient associations to support patients and their relatives as effectively as possible.
Peer support is often very important for patients, although this varies from person to person. Those interested can obtain information via the hospital’s secretariat or website about which associations they can contact.
057 35 65 26
Patient Experience Officer
