About Diakonessenhuis
When you go to a hospital, you want to know that you’re in good hands. You want to go to a hospital where people care about you and listen to you. A place where you feel welcome. Our hospital is that place. We are fully committed to our patients.
No one likes to go to hospital, but sometimes you have no choice. And if you do need treatment, you want to go somewhere that has friendly doctors and nurses who are experts at what they do. Somewhere that has the newest equipment, smooth teamwork and a great atmosphere. You want to go to a hospital where people care about you and listen to you. A place where you can ask all your medical and personal questions. A place where you feel welcome.
Our hospital is that place. We are fully committed to our patients.
Trusted in the community for over 175 years.
Our history
Diakonessenhuis was founded in 1844, in Utrecht. In 1844, a university professor named Bernardus Suerman started giving medical treatments. He taught ‘deaconesses’ – the first nurses – by showing them how to treat patients. The deaconesses cared for patients and used the newest information at that time. Before then, hospitals were known as ‘death houses’, but the deaconesses turned us into an example for many other hospitals.
Facts about 1844
- We were the first Diakonessenhuis in the Netherlands.
- We started in 1844, in a rented house on Springweg, in Utrecht.
- In 1844, three deaconesses worked at the hospital,
- and in our first year we had 47 patients.
- The deaconesses ‘served with love’. They were volunteers who did their work out of charity, and because they believed in it.
Working together to provide better care
To give you the best possible care, we work together with other organisations. A hospital is not a healthcare ‘island’. We are like a chain that starts with your GP. This chain usually ends at home, but sometimes it ends in a care home. All the links in the chain need to work together smoothly, so that you can get the right care.