Currants from the porridge by private clinics

There are more and more private clinics in the care sector. The clinics often focus initially on non-essential medical care, such as plastic surgery. Good specialists from ordinary hospitals often make the switch. They are fed up with the bureaucracy in regular care and want to work in a more pleasant environment.

Because they have the powers and skills in-house, the clinics are therefore focusing more and more on medical care and especially on the common care such as cataracts, knee and hip operations, etc. Because they are in fact taking the currants out of the porridge, the more complex care remains for regular care. Research shows that patients and employees in regular care disapprove of this development (-3) and that customers and employees of private clinics are very satisfied (3).

As private clinics grow in size and bring in more disciplines, there is an increasing need to take a good look at the organisational model. In starting private clinics the ownership and management is often in the hands of two or three specialists of one specialisation. In growing organisations, this model leads to many problems. Where this problem is recognised and investigated, it is well appreciated by the employees (2).