Tilburg is a step closer to a brand new Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital (ETZ). Less than a year after drilling the first post, the highest point of the new construction of the Acute Center and the clinic with nursing departments will be reached next Tuesday. In the brand new building there are more departments and practices together, which should make care even better according to new -build manager Wessel Griffioen. “Everything has been thought of.”
Between the water of De Leij, the Leijpark and the current blood bank of the ETZ, a huge complex has been risen in less than a year. The new building of the hospital consists of two parts.
“We are building a building where acute care takes place and a building where the outpatient clinics and offices are,” explains Real Estate and new construction manager, Wessel Griffioen.
Everything has been thought of, but what is immediately noticeable, even now that it is all bare concrete, is how spacious everything is set up. Even without the design you notice that the emergency department and departments for acute care are spatial and open.
“Thinking is half the battle.”
“The thinking is half the battle. For example, we have a public course where we receive people and a transport pass through which employees can and patients can be transported,” says the manager.
Everything is classified more logically and more efficiently. There are literally seconds and maybe minutes that really count when acute care has to take place. “Speed is very important,” Griffioen agrees.
That is why a new helicopter platform has been built on one of the buildings. “This route is easy to fly. And through the elevator we can go directly down to the emergency department,” he explains.
In addition, scans in the new building can be made with the ambulance immediately after entering. But the most important plus point of the new ETZ is, according to Manager Acute Zorg Robert Jansen, that more departments come together.
“Bigger than we have now.”
“It is bigger than we have now, but it is especially nice that everything is together. The departments, outpatient clinics, but also the GP station is coming here. That is why we can work together better and share knowledge and skills,” he says.
Elisabeth TweeSteden Hospital (ETZ)
The ETZ now has three locations. The main location where there is now a lot of construction is ETZ Elisabeth in the south of Tilburg along the A58. In the north of the city there is two cities and in Waalwijk the ETZ has an outpatient clinic.
Trauma center
The hospital is not only important for Tilburg and the rest of Central Brabant, but for the entire province. The ETZ is a level 1 trauma center. That means that the hospital can treat the toughest traumas 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For that reason, victims of serious accidents or violence are often brought to Tilburg, even though those incidents have occurred around the corner of a local hospital. Trauma helicopters and ambulances drive from all over Brabant to the Elisabeth main location where the important acute care now gets a new high -tech building.
Neurosurgery
There is a team of trauma surgeons, neurosurgeons, intensivists, anesthesiologists and radiologists permanently available. And that means that ETZ becomes one of the few hospitals in the Netherlands with 24-hour neurosurgical care, including acute operations at the head and spinal cord.
And perhaps you can still remember that the ETZ also had a coordinating role for acute care during the Coronapandemie. That was not only then, but that role is retained the Tilburg hospital.
Nevertheless, Tilburgers and the rest of the Midden-Brabant have to be patient before they can go to the new hospital. The delivery of the clinic building is in November 2026 and the building with acute care in December 2026, but in the hospital world it does not mean that work can be done immediately.
“We still have to build in all technology and complex positions in a hospital for months to take it all safely. We hope that the hospital can open in the first half of 2027,” says Griffioen.
