French Community Commission (COCOF):
The Service for palliative care and follow-up care is authorized by the French Community Commission. The authorization is given on the basis of general and specific standards as defined in the decree of 5 March 2009 and its decree of application of 4 June 2009.
German-speaking Community:
The supervision of the palliative care association is a competence of the German-speaking Community that controls its compliance with legal provisions and grants official recognition.
Walloon Region:
Like all areas of hospitals, the palliative care unit and palliative care roles must be approved in order to be able to operate. For approval to be granted, palliative care beds must be scheduled and comply with the rules laid down in a royal decree, while palliative care roles must comply with the rules laid down in a separate royal decree.
Common Community Commission (Brussels):
The standards are checked by the inspection service and the health care service of the Common Community Commission.
Quality and safety
French Community Commission (COCOF):
The Service for palliative care and follow-up care is accessible for everyone, without any discrimination.
It respects the deontological rules and the duty of professional confidentiality which are in force in the sector it belongs to and it guarantees the confidentiality in the organisation of its premises.
Walloon Region:
Wallonia has not developed a specific qualitative approach, although it is competent to draw up complementary quality standards. Its inspection work is therefore currently concerned only with the evaluation of organisational indicators (e.g. staffing standards) and some process indicators (e.g. the inspectors check whether the activities of the role are properly recorded in accordance with the law).
Alongside inspections in the context of the approval procedures, it sometimes draws up recommendations on a specific subject or on the interpretation of a standard.
Wallonia has recently gained a platform bringing together all healthcare actors (authorities, federations, insurance organisations, schools of public health), with the following five objectives:
- discuss the development of standards;
- produce indicators;
- plan and monitor the implementation of accreditation processes;
- structure inspection/approval and accreditation;
- share practices, in particular concerning processes.
Common Community Commission (Brussels):
In order to optimize the quality of palliative care, the cooperation between the institutions, with the emphasis on palliative care at home is encouraged.
Monitoring and evaluation
The National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (RIZIV) (the Nomenclature* Medical Evaluation and Monitoring Committee GEC voor de nomenclatuur) and the College of Medical Directors with regard to the multidisciplinary support teams) monitors and evaluates the recognitions while the Communities and Regions are tasked with ensuring that the recognition standards are complied with.
French Community Commission (COCOF):
The Service for palliative care and follow-up care takes initiatives for qualitative evaluation.
The standards are controlled by the Administration of the French Community Commission.
German-speaking Community:
The government of the German-speaking Community mandates an inspector to control the compliance with legal provisions and to supervise. The inspector is entitled to carry out all examinations, controls and investigations deemed necessary.
The German-speaking community also allocates subsidies to partly cover personnel and working costs of the palliative care association of the German-speaking Community.
The following link provides further information about the palliative care association of the German-speaking Community: Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Belgiens.
Walloon Region:
In the context of its hospital inspection and approval role, Wallonia inspects and approves the palliative care units and palliative care roles in the hospitals in its territory (except for the German-speaking Community). It also approves the palliative care platforms which it supports for specific purposes, such as training. See the portal "Action Sociale et Santé en Wallonie".
Federal Palliative Care Evaluation Cell
In implementation of the Palliative Care Act (2002) a Federal Palliative Care Evaluation Cell was established. This cell regularly evaluates the palliative care needs and the quality of the solutions found and thus helps to further elaborate the federal palliative care policy.
For further information on palliative care, please refer to:
- Federatie Palliatieve Zorg Vlaanderen
- Fédération bruxelloise pluraliste de Soins palliatifs et continus
- Fédération wallonne des Soins palliatifs
- Palliativpflegeverband der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft
* see Glossary