Eyescan Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht | Top clinic for Eyescan in Leidsche Rijn

The completion of Eyescan's eighth and largest facility in Leidsche Rijn is in full swing. This center for high-quality ophthalmology is expected to go into operation in November. "We are growing explosively at all locations," states ophthalmologist and co-owner Henk Punt. "Even the branch at the Lucas Bolwerk in the heart of Utrecht had become much too small. That is why we will soon open this new location right across from the Antonius Hospital, which will also house the headquarters."    

Eyescan provides insured care at all locations; glasses replacement surgery is done in Utrecht. Punt: "For lens implants, high-quality laser-guided equipment is used. This requires not only an experienced refractive surgeon but also high-quality equipment. We have therefore chosen one location. Retinal detachments are handled by vitreoretinal surgeons in Amstelveen and will also be done at this new location in Utrecht. Evening and weekend surgery mainly concerns retinal detachments that we perform within 24 hours."

ORs

The new eye center therefore features a state-of-the-art refraction center with two ORs (class 2) for laser treatments and lens implants, a multifunctional surgery complex with four ORs (class 1) and an inpatient department, a center for general ophthalmology ("Vision") and the Eyescan headquarters with shared service center. The gross floor area is 4,000 m².

Intermediate building section with aluminum curtain wall.

Cost

You would think that expensive centers like this would only drive up healthcare costs in the Netherlands, but the opposite is true. "Then you wouldn't get the insurers on board either," says Reyer Lafeber, the other co-owner of Eyescan. "We tackle high myopia, previously uninsured, by sliding a kind of contact lens into the eye with extremely precise high-tech devices. The insurer thus gets rid of regularly recurring costs for glasses and lenses and now reimburses it. It's simple arithmetic."

High Complex

Ophthalmologist Punt agrees: "Treatments that used to be done only in university hospitals, highly complex care, are increasingly done in clinics and general hospitals due to advances in technology. Retinal detachment, for example, used to be done in a complex, sometimes two-hour operation under anesthesia and only in academic hospitals; now we do it in twenty minutes with local anesthesia and the results are excellent. These are partly the reasons why we have excellent relations with health insurance companies: shorter waiting times, efficient and high-quality care for a lower price."

Reyer Lafeber (l) and Henk Punt.

Training

The cost aspect is an important part of the business philosophy within Eyescan. Punt: "We show that providing more efficient care at lower costs is quite possible. In the United States, I have seen how you can provide very effective care and do a good job. Then the healthcare premium eventually becomes lower. I try to apply that in our clinics. For example, we train our own medical staff. We see the potential in the people, guide them and train them to become very skilled and above all loyal employees, who will not leave. Patient care is just as important to us as the care of our staff."

Pyramid

"In addition, a clinic like Eyescan is a pyramid," Punt continued. "At the top is the physician who only operates and does complex diagnostics. Below that are the optometrists and our physicians-assistants who do the large volume of work, with the specialist as supervisor. Then at the base are the employees who do administrative work but who you can also have operate certain devices. If you manage to set up that pyramid efficiently, you get efficient processes. This new building can be seen as the physical effect of that set-up. All clinics work according to this concept."

Atrium roof with air cushions.

Atrium

The building sits on a sunken parking garage and is laid out with two three- and four-story wings on either side of an atrium. On the first level are the main reception and refraction center with two ORs for laser treatment and lens implantation. On the second level is the surgery complex, which is entirely pressurized, including the glass air bridge that runs through the atrium. Lafeber: "This complex is entirely class 1 so that other disciplines such as orthopedics and cardiology can use our facilities. After all, there is a great shortage of this kind of fully equipped space." On the higher floors are the outpatient clinics, center "Vision," offices, showers, locker rooms, a real nursery and the canteen with roof terrace.

Casco

Pieter Kool, project manager for contractor J.G. Timmer, was responsible for the shell construction. "We erected the shell in nine months. Tight, but we've faced tougher challenges. It became a structure with a concrete basement and above it a steel structure with hollow-core slabs. In the facades you see an insulated sandwich panel with a lightly profiled, chocolate-brown exterior that is self-cleaning. Horizontal, bronze-colored flashing runs across the facade, while the facade openings are faceted with Alucobond in the same bronze color. The middle segment of the building is made transparent with aluminum curtain walls. The atrium roof is remarkable. In a frame of steel edge beams and laminated wooden roof beams are five air cushions into which air is blown. This makes the roof transparent and insulating."

Punt and Lafeber are in any case pleased with the result so far: "It has become a characteristic building, just like our old branch at the Lucas Bolwerk. Hence also the name of this new building: Bolwerk Novum."