Thanks to technological and scientific developments, the hospital sector has access to specialist equipment. The cost of this equipment can be astronomical. Also the staff who operate specialist equipment and interpret the results are often highly specialised and command a high salary as a result. Legislation has ensured that the establishment, the running and the subvention of medico-technical departments* are now capped or regulated.
Recognition
So far, recognition standards* based on the Hospitals Act have been issued for the following medical departments*
- Medical imaging* departments equipped with a CT scanner
- Centres for genetic conditions
- Departments equipped with a magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) scanner*
- Radiotherapy departments
- Centres treating chronic renal failure
- Nuclear medicine departments equipped with a PET scanner
- Transplantation centres
- Burn centres
These standards can impose specific requirements regarding the infrastructure within or the number of admissions to hospitals. Any hospital that meets these standards can be given the green light for the funding of a specific item of equipment or the recruitment of specialised staff. In certain circumstances, facilities may also enter into a collaboration agreement with other facilities for the purpose of complying with these standards.
Flanders:
You can find an overview of the medico-technical departments* recognised in Flanders here.
Monitoring, evaluation and quality
Flanders:
Checking medico-technical departments* is part of the hospital inspection and audit process
Walloon Region:
The technical medical services provided in the hospitals of Wallonia (except for the German-speaking Community) and in the four French-speaking university hospitals (St Luc Woluwé, Erasme, Liège and Mont-Godinne) are subject to the same approval requirements as all other hospital sectors.
For the Walloon Region and the four French-speaking university hospitals (St Luc Woluwé, Erasme, Liège and Mont-Godinne), see the portal "Action Sociale et Santé en Wallonie".
Common Community Commission (Brussels):
The standards are checked by the inspection service and the health service of the Common Community Commission annually. In addition, there are inspections carried out when there is a change in the number of beds, a new manager, a change in the asbl such as the name of the asbl, address or the location.
* see Glossary