To make sure that patient participation does not just become a meaningless phrase, the hospital undertakes several initiatives to involve patients in the organisation of UZ Leuven. Via patient questionnaires and focus groups, we invite patients to think along with us, about for instance the design of a new building. The ‘Lunch with the CEO’ project started in 2015 and regularly brings together UZ Leuven employees that were a patient in the hospital, to give them the change to relate their experiences to the CEO and management.
Structural partnerships
By bringing in experience experts, UZ Leuven wants to align the care even better with patient needs. Experience experts are patients that pass on their knowledge, tips and advice on to other patients. Youngsters on the atopic dermatitis consultation will answer their peers' questions, mainly via online channels. In the kidney and rehabilitation centre patients can have a personal discussion with experience experts at certain times. The interaction between experience experts and medical professionals is essential.
Stories or advice from other patients can be priceless for people that are ill. For this reason UZ Leuven has chosen to enter into structural partnerships with patient groups and self-help groups. This way, the hospital wants to put the patient in central position and look for specific ways to give patients a say. UZ Leuven is affiliated with Trefpunt Zelfhulp and has a long tradition of setting up partnerships with patient organisations.