Our partners
Based on the concept of partnership that links its five member hospitals, iris has developed this notion of partnership in various fields, on the medical front but also in various administrative and technical fields.
The iris network thus builds strong relations daily with different partners such as:
- Public welfare centres, for attending to destitute, homeless, illegal and other such patients;
- Rest and nursing homes, when elderly patients of the network no longer require hospitalisation but must continue to receive care nonetheless;
- Home care structures, for attending to a pathology to reduce the hospitalisation time (and therefore the risk of exposure to nosocomial diseases) but also for improving the comfort of patients in certain situations (post-surgery, dialysis, palliative care, etc.);
- Police zones, for the observation of and care for detainees;
- …
The iris network is also cultivating a constant partnership with the association of general practitioners for the management of clinics aimed at reducing casualty department overcrowding, but also with various vocational training schools connected to healthcare for which the network plays host to numerous interns.
The partnerships, the list of which is far too long to be totally exhaustive, does not stop at the borders of the Brussels Region: there are partnerships at the national as well as international level, particularly with developing countries.
PARTNERSHIPS WITH UNIVERSITIES AND HOSPITALS
The entities of the iris network and the universities (ULB (French-speaking University of Brussels) and VUB (Dutch-speaking University of Brussels)) have always cultivated strong ties in the field of medical education, and this relationship moreover goes far beyond the simple academic framework.
Numerous partnerships have been established through the years in various fields, especially with other university hospitals, particularly academic medical centres, but including Tivoli, Charleroi, Ambroise Paré, etc.
For example, many organ transplants (kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, lungs, etc.) have been carried out in various academic hospitals, and more specifically Erasmus, through regular cooperation. Other partnerships concerning liver transplants in children (a more rare pathology) have been pursued with Saint-Luc Hospital. A major joint action concerning cystic fibrosis (one of the most frequent genetic diseases) is pursued between QFCUH and Erasmus hospital.
Furthermore, metabolic disorders are screened at birth thanks to the paediatrics laboratory, which has many agreements with partner maternity wards in Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region.
Finally, as regards disciplines such as medical genetics or cytogenetics, namely the study of genetic phenomena at cell level, i.e. at chromosome level without the need to extract DNA (chromosomal abnormalities, recombination of chromosomes, etc.), the iris network has a partnership agreement with the ULB (French-speaking University of Brussels) and the VUB (Dutch-speaking University of Brussels), pertaining not to teaching but to clinical practice.
On the research front, scientific activities relating to experimental medicine or sophisticated laboratory techniques are carried out in faculties of medicine which are next to iris medical centres.
Finally, it can be said that there are as many research partnerships as there are clinical services, so it is impossible to list them all here!