Shaping patient-first care for Ziekenhuis aan de Stroom
In July 2024, the Antwerp hospital groups GZA and ZNA joined forces to form the new “Ziekenhuis aan de Stroom” (ZAS). Their goal of providing accessible, compassionate care close to home requires a strong digital vision and approach. In collaboration with ZAS, Craftzing developed a digital strategy and designed the ideal customer experience for both patients and healthcare providers.
Our approach
Everyone aligned around a shared digital vision
With 10,000 employees, 1,000 doctors, 1.4 million annual consultations, and 13 campuses, ZAS has become the largest healthcare organization in Belgium and the 4th largest in Europe. For ZAS to excel digitally, a strong and widely supported vision is essential. This is where Craftzing comes in.
Through discussions and tests with various internal stakeholders, we identified the key business challenges:
Patient-focused digital experience: Prioritizing patient needs over organizational structure.
Scalable and flexible platform: Capable of growing with the organization and adapting to evolving technologies.
Efficient content management: Ensuring consistency and high-quality content on the ZAS website.
Supporting doctors' entrepreneurship: The platform must enhance the visibility and accessibility of medical professionals and lower barriers to connect with them.
Craftzing successfully translated the digital needs of doctors, nurses, and support staff into a comprehensive strategy, a user-friendly experience, and a fresh design. Their expertise and flexibility made working with Wim, Margot, Thomas, Martijn, and Gilles a true pleasure.
Catering to a diverse and vulnerable audience
A hospital serves everyone. This means that besides the strategic challenges, it was essential to map out the target audience of ZAS. Hospital patients often belong to a vulnerable group: sometimes in need of care, not always digitally skilled, and less fluent in Dutch. From the start, we prioritized inclusion and accessibility in our approach.
Translating business challenges into a future-oriented digital strategy and patient-centered concept
We developed a strategy that includes:
A patient-centered user experience: Simple, accessible, and personalized.
Improved searchability: We created a clear information architecture, based on keywords, to help patients and healthcare providers quickly find the information they need.
Modular design system: We designed a flexible system that allows ZAS to easily add new digital components while maintaining a consistent user experience. The development partner received detailed guidelines on functionality, design, technical implementation, and accessibility.
Decentralized content creation with centralized management: We provided editorial workflows and centralized content sources to support doctors and departments in content creation while ensuring centralized quality control.
Inclusivity and accessibility: We implemented accessibility guidelines and used clear, simple language to make the ZAS website accessible to everyone, regardless of background or skills.
Implementation and partner selection
Beyond developing the digital strategy and concept, we also guided ZAS in project planning, roadmaps, and organizational structure. We supported ZAS in drafting a requirements document and selecting the right partner for platform development. In the summer of 2024, ZAS successfully launched the new platform.
