Social services
The social services are at your disposal, upon request, in all the care units of the hospitals in the iris network to assess your situation with you and to provide advice and support throughout your hospitalisation.
Their essential task is to provide quality social advice and support during your stay in our institutions and to ensure optimal conditions for your discharge.
Their remit includes in particular :
- Listening to the patient and his family (discussions about problems relating to hospitalisation, acceptance of the state of health, etc.) and providing them psychosocial advice and support.
- Assessing the social difficulties that can stand in the way of comprehensive patient care.
- Approving the conditions for granting aid and creating useful contacts with the CPAS (Public Welfare Agency).
- Informing patients about the legislation and intramural and extramural institutional resources (INAMI (Federal Institute for Health Insurance), CPAS (Public Welfare Agency), competent ministry, mental health centres, etc.) and helping them with the necessary formalities (sorting out their mutual insurance situation, applying for financial aid, formalities for benefits for persons with disabilities, etc.).
- Assessing changes to be made in the patient’s daily life because of the illness and helping to implement the most advantageous solutions in agreement with the patient and, where possible, his family.
- Helping to solve social problems relating to the illness so as to regain maximum self-sufficiency.
- Providing advice and support to prepare for your discharge from hospital and to organise the return home or to place you in a rest home where necessary.
- Assessing the contacts to be made with medical and social institutions and reception facilities that will take over when you are discharged.
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Do not hesitate, early on during your stay, to have a social worker or a member of the healthcare team come by.