Ziekenhuis Netwerk Antwerpen

Ziekenhuis Netwerk Antwerpen (ZNA) — the Antwerp Hospital Network — is one of Belgium's largest and most important hospital organisations, comprising three general hospitals and six specialised hospitals across the Antwerp metropolitan area. Formed through a landmark 2007 merger that unified all participating institutions (except the separately managed Psychiatric Hospital Stuivenberg ZNA), ZNA emerged as the largest hospital merger in Belgian history, creating a combined network with approximately 2,500 beds.

With approximately 6,000 employees — including around 2,650 nurses, 550 care workers, and approximately 600 specialist physicians — ZNA provides daily care to approximately 6,000 patients across its network. The scale of this operation is reflected in annual activity volumes exceeding 1 million consultations, laboratory examinations, medical imaging studies, and video recordings combined, making ZNA the largest healthcare provider in Belgium and ranking it among the top ten largest hospital groups in Europe.

ZNA's influence extends across 32 municipalities in the Antwerp region, and within the city of Antwerp itself the network achieves a remarkable 44% market share of patients — meaning nearly half of all Antwerp residents who require hospital care are treated within the ZNA system. This dominant regional position carries a responsibility that ZNA explicitly embraces: the network has placed social accessibility of care at the core of its mission since its foundation, working to ensure that healthcare is available to all Antwerp residents regardless of their social, economic, or administrative status.

The network's social commitment is expressed through active collaboration with organisations serving disadvantaged communities, a systematic guarantee scheme that assists patients with administrative complications in regularising their status, and a policy of non-discrimination in access to care. This combination of scale, quality, and social purpose makes ZNA a distinctive and important institution in Belgian healthcare.

ZNA's multi-campus structure enables the network to provide the full breadth of medical and surgical specialties expected of a large general hospital system while also concentrating subspecialist expertise at designated centres of excellence within the network.

Cardiology is a major strength across the ZNA network, with services spanning preventive cardiology, diagnostic investigation, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, and management of heart failure and complex arrhythmias. Cardiac surgical procedures are concentrated at the appropriate ZNA campus with full cardiac intensive care support. The network's scale enables high-volume cardiac services that sustain the expertise necessary for complex procedures.

Neurology and neurovascular care including stroke management, epilepsy treatment, and neurodegenerative disease services are provided across the network with designated stroke unit capacity. Oncology services operate through multidisciplinary tumour board coordination across campuses, with surgical, medical, and radiation oncology integrated in a comprehensive cancer care programme. Maternal and neonatal care, including high-risk obstetrics and neonatal intensive care, is provided at appropriate ZNA sites.

The six specialised ZNA hospitals within the network provide focused care in specific areas including psychiatric care (ZNA Psychiatric Hospital Stuivenberg), geriatric care, rehabilitation, and other subspecialties suited to dedicated specialist environments. General and specialist medical care across the three general hospital sites covers internal medicine, gastroenterology, endocrinology, nephrology, respiratory medicine, rheumatology, orthopaedics, urology, ophthalmology, dermatology, ENT, paediatrics, emergency medicine, and anaesthesiology. This comprehensive and networked provision means patients within the ZNA system can access the full spectrum of care without leaving the network.

ZNA's nine campuses across the Antwerp metropolitan area collectively provide approximately 2,500 beds distributed across general medical and surgical wards, intensive care units, cardiac care, neonatal intensive care, psychiatric inpatient units, and rehabilitation facilities. The distributed campus model allows care to be delivered close to where patients live across Antwerp's diverse neighbourhoods and surrounding municipalities.

Operating theatre complexes across the general hospital campuses support cardiac, orthopaedic, gynaecological, general, laparoscopic, and specialist surgical procedures. Dedicated intensive care departments provide both general and specialist ICU services including cardiac, neurosurgical, and neonatal intensive care. Emergency departments at the general hospital campuses operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Diagnostic imaging across the ZNA network encompasses digital radiography, multi-detector CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, PET scanning, ultrasound, and interventional radiology. The network's scale enables investment in advanced imaging technology that smaller hospitals could not justify individually. Clinical laboratory services process over one million analyses annually across haematology, biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, and pathology, with centralised processing systems supporting multiple campuses.

ZNA has invested in digital health infrastructure including an electronic patient record system shared across network campuses, enabling continuity of care as patients move between ZNA sites. This integrated IT platform supports medication safety, clinical decision support, and network-wide quality monitoring. The network's psychiatric hospital and rehabilitation facilities provide dedicated therapeutic environments purpose-designed for their respective patient populations.

ZNA's Antwerp location makes it highly accessible to international patients, as Antwerp is Belgium's second city and a major European port and economic centre with a long tradition of international commerce and cultural diversity. The city hosts a large international community including port workers, logistics professionals, diamond traders, and expatriates from across the world, making multilingual care provision an established operational reality for ZNA.

The network's clinical staff communicate primarily in Dutch, reflecting Antwerp's Flemish character. However, given Antwerp's cosmopolitan history and the significant non-Dutch-speaking population the network serves, English is widely spoken throughout ZNA campuses. French is also available, and many specialist departments have staff capable of communicating in German and other European languages.

Antwerp is well connected internationally via Brussels Airport (approximately 45 minutes by car or train), Antwerp Airport (limited European routes), and the high-speed rail network. The city's central rail station (Antwerpen-Centraal) connects to Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, and other European destinations. Accommodation options across all price ranges are available throughout central Antwerp and in the broader metropolitan area.

For international patients seeking planned specialist care at ZNA, enquiries should be directed to the relevant specialist outpatient department at the appropriate ZNA campus. EU patients with EHIC cards receive necessary medical treatment at Belgian public health insurance rates. Non-EU patients and those seeking private elective treatment should contact ZNA's administration in advance to obtain cost estimates and arrange appropriate insurance documentation. Emergency care is available immediately across all ZNA general hospital campuses without prior arrangement.

ZNA operates under the regulatory framework of the Flemish Agency for Care and Health (Agentschap Zorg en Gezondheid), which licenses, inspects, and sets quality standards for Flemish hospitals. As a non-profit hospital network committed to public service, ZNA adheres to Flemish and Belgian federal healthcare legislation governing hospital licensing, staffing standards, clinical quality indicators, and patient safety.

The network participates in national quality reporting to NIHDI / RIZIV, providing data on clinical quality metrics, patient safety events, infection rates, and patient-reported experience across its campuses. ZNA's scale enables it to generate statistically robust quality data that supports rigorous self-evaluation and comparison against national benchmarks.

ZNA's explicit commitment to social accessibility of care — including its systematic guarantee scheme for administratively complex patients — reflects a quality standard that goes beyond minimum regulatory requirements, placing equity of access as a core institutional value. This approach aligns with the principles embedded in the Belgian patient rights legislation and the Flemish healthcare strategy's emphasis on accessible, non-discriminatory care.

The psychiatric campus (ZNA Psychiatric Hospital Stuivenberg) is subject to specific quality and licensing requirements under Belgian and Flemish mental health legislation, including standards for acute psychiatric admission, voluntary and involuntary treatment, therapeutic environment, and patient rights in psychiatric care. ZNA's governance structure as a unified network provides coordinated quality oversight across all nine campuses, with network-level quality committees, clinical audit programmes, and shared governance policies ensuring consistency of standards across the entire organisation.