Significantly more patients treated

Zollikerberg Hospital treated around 70,530 patients in 2021. Even adjusted for the coronavirus test centre patients, a significant increase in patient numbers was recorded in the inpatient and outpatient areas - by around 4.5 % overall compared to 2019. Sales rose by a pleasing 7.8 % compared to 2020. As the 6.6 % increase in costs was slightly lower than the growth in income, the EBITDA margin was a very good 11.7 % by Swiss hospital standards.

The main contributors to the pleasing result were the sharp rise in case numbers at the Clinic for Internal Medicine, another record number of births with 2443 newborns and the average severity of illness (case mix index) of patients treated at Zollikerberg Hospital, which rose by 3.9 % to 0.904 index points. The proportion of all patients with supplementary insurance is 24 %.

Second year of the pandemic

Zollikerberg Hospital also made a relevant contribution to the treatment and care of COVID patients in the second year of the pandemic. In 2021, the hospital treated around 300 COVID patients as inpatients, 29 of whom received intensive care. This is almost twice as many as in the first year of the pandemic in 2020. The average length of stay for COVID patients was 12.5 days and 4.7 days for patients not suffering from COVID.

New building for more outpatients and services

The new "Centre North" extension was opened in the summer after a construction period of just one and a half years. It offers significantly more space and comfort for the growing number of outpatient services. The Paediatric Perinatal Clinic has been relocated from an external ward to the centre of the hospital, allowing important synergies to be exploited between the Neonatology Clinic, Radiology and the Paediatric Perinatal Clinic. The radiology department was able to accommodate a new 3T MRI of the latest generation in the new extension, and outpatient consultations in the surgery and internal medicine clinics were given more space.

New approaches to hospital care: "Visit - Zollikerberg Hospital at home"

The innovative pilot project "Visit - Zollikerberg Hospital at Home", based on the internationally recognised hospital@home concept, was set up under the leadership of the Department of Internal Medicine and thanks to major financial support from the hospital's sponsor, the Stiftung Diakoniewerk Neumünster - Schweizerische Pflegerinnenschule. Since November 2021, Zollikerberg Hospital has been the first acute hospital in Switzerland to treat patients with certain internal medicine conditions at home.

Equal pay analysis successfully completed

Zollikerberg Hospital has successfully completed the equal pay analysis as part of the audit of its sponsoring organisation, Stiftung Diakoniewerk Neumünster - Schweizerische Pflegerinnenschule. This means that women and men receive the same pay for work of equal value.