title: The art of governance of Dutch hospitals.
abstract: Hospitals in The Netherlands are governed by two boards: The Board of Directors, the legal representative of the hospital, responsible for strategic and operational business activities; and the Supervisory Board, made up of co-opted volunteers and responsible for checking and approving of the major decisions of the Board of Directors. The question which arises is whether the system of governance is able to function appropriately and guarantee enough concern about general health problems, moral and ethical questions and the interest of the patients. This paper investigate the successes and shortfalls of such a system of governance in Dutch hospitals. The results and conclusions determine that although copied from the corporate governance model, it does not function well in an environment where the influence of patients and the inhabitants of the region are of great importance and shareholders do not exist.
authors.affiliation: C3 Hospital Consultancy, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoek
mesh_terms: D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D006075:Governing Board; D006739:Hospital Administration; D009426:Netherlands; D016134:Organizational Policy