AZ Groeninge

History

In 2003, four hospitals in the Belgian city of Kortrijk merged: Kliniek Maria's Voorzienigheid (founded in 1937), Onze-Lieve-Vrouwehospitaal (1211), Sint-Niklaasziekenhuis (1958) and Sint-Maartenziekenhuis (1955). With the merger all specialties were effectively centralized at one campus. In 2005 the construction of one large hospital facility in the neighbourhood of "het Ei in Kortrijk" started. Between 2010 and 2016 the campuses of Sint-Niklaas, Sint-Maarten and Maria's Voorzienigheid will move into the new hospital. The historic campus of the Medieval Our Lady Hospital will remain open longer, to accommodate administrative services and prolonged-care units such as the palliative care unit, but the ultimate aim is to also relocate these services to the Kennedylaan.

Facts

AZ Groeninge has a history that dates back to the beginning of the 13th century and is one of the oldest hospitals in Belgium. It is a pluralistic hospital resulting from the merger of one public hospital and 3 private Catholic hospitals. AZ Groeninge is in number of beds (1100 acute beds; 57 obstretic beds) the fifth largest hospital in the country (only the UZ of the KU Leuven, the Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, the ZiekenhuisNetwerk Antwerpen and AZ Sint-Jan Brugge-Oostende AV are larger). However, the latter three are in fact hospital systems (most services are not centralised at one campus). AZ Groeninge is teaching hospital that accommodates training of medical and nursing students and residents and clinical fellows e in various specialties.

AZ Groeninge is a large private employer in the Arrondissement of Kortrijk and Eurodistrict Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai metropolitan area. As of 2009, it employs 1038 full-time en 1642 part-time people, 200+ of which are physicians. It is a non-profit organisation (VZW/ASBL). In 2009 AZ Groeninge was responsible for the education of 30 residents and fellows. It had 1,094 beds, 33,920 inpatient admissions a year, 2,020 births and had 38,838 emergency department visits in 2009.

Facilities and current operations

At present the hospital consists of 4 hospital sites: Kennedylaan, Loofstraat, Burgemeester Vercruysselaan and Reepkaai. However, all respective activities are at present centralised at one campus and therefore -in 2010- the government agreed to fund the second building phase (started May 2012) which will result in centralization of all beds at one single hospital site (of 1050 beds) located at the Kennedylaan by 2016. This hospital should become the second largest hospital -with all services effectively centralised at one campus- of the country. The Kennedylaan site is located close to the campuses of the Catholic University of Leuven Campus Kortrijk (KULAK) and KATHO University College. The hospital accommodates several specialized facilities and services such as robotic surgery (da Vinci Surgical System), Radiofrequency ablation, a Eusoma-accredited Breast Clinic, a Fertility center, a Radiotherapy unit (also offering intra-hepatic radiotherapy or TheraSphere treatment and Intraoperative radiation therapy or IORT), a cancer center with several multidisciplinary oncology clinics and access to Hypothermia caps, 2 MRIs including one 3.0 tesla MRI, the West-Flanders PET-CT center, a clinical trial unit that participates in many fase 2 to 4 clinical trials and with capacity to design clinical trials and ability to serve as national leading ethical committee. In 2012 the Leuven UZ Leuven University Hospital KWS Electronic medical record system was implemented. The closest NMBS stop to the main campus is Kortrijk railway station. The closest airports are Kortrijk-Wevelgem International Airport, Lille Airport and Brussels Airport. The closest international railway station is Lille-Europe.

Affiliated institutions

AZ Groeninge is part of the Vlaams Ziekenhuisnetwerk van het Universitair Ziekenhuis van de K.U.Leuven. In 2008 an agreement was signed between the hospital, the Kortrijk University (Catholic University of Leuven Campus Kortrijk) and the University & University Hospital of Lille (Université Lille Nord de France) to stimulate collaborations within the Eurometropole Lille-Courtrai-Tournai. There is also collaboration with KATHO University College and Ghent University (Hospital). The hospital participates actively in many clinical trials. Many physicians are members of collaborative groups such as EORTC. It participates in regional managed care networks with neighbouring hospitals such as the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Lourdesziekenhuis in Waregem, the Jan Ypermanziekenhuis in Ypres, and the hospitals in Mouscron en Tournai, and the AZ Sint-Jan Brugge-Oostende AV in Bruges.