Hirslanden Group’s corporate governance

Ethical conduct has always been a fundamental guiding principle for Mediclinic and the Hirslanden Group. We are the partner of choice for many patients and clients when it comes to their health and wellbeing. Consequently, our success greatly depends on the trust that our stakeholders place in us. This code of conduct and ethics provides the foundation for establishing, maintaining and strengthening that trust. It details how we interact with each other and how we achieve our goals through responsible, legally compliant action. 

To this end, we are guided by our four values of business ethics: fairness, transparency, accountability and responsibility. 

Our commitment to these ethical standards and core values makes the Hirslanden Group an enjoyable workplace for us all.

It creates a human corporate culture that is characterised by trust and respect. It provides a safe environment, based on a culture of impartiality, in which employees, partner doctors and patients feel at ease. Such a culture not only improves our own quality of life but also that of our colleagues and those who entrust themselves to us. 

Compliance is an essential part of good corporate governance. It stands for proper compliance with legal, regulatory and internal requirements. The Compliance Department, together with all business units, specialist departments and employees of the Hirslanden Group, ensures that these requirements are met. The aim is to avoid conflicts of interest, to create transparency, to protect the company and employees from sanctions, and to establish guidelines in such a way that even unintended breaches of rules are avoided. 

Data protection ensures responsible handling of personal data, and safeguards the confidentiality and privacy of patients, clients and employees. Together with the information security officer, the data protection officer assists the specialist departments and hospitals with ensuring compliance with data protection and data security in the digital age. When sensitive data is processed, risk assessments are carried out with regard to data protection (data protection impact assessments). The data protection officer is also the point of contact for patients, clients, employees and authorities in the event of potential data protection breaches, and for general questions on the topic of data protection.

Compliance and data protection are rooted in the corporate culture of the Hirslanden Group, and help to build trust in the company and in the Swiss healthcare system as a whole.

The internal legal department (Legal) and the general secretariat (Company Secretariat) of the Hirslanden Group play a key role in good corporate governance. They work closely in this regard with the parent company, Mediclinic, the hospitals, and all departments of the Corporate Office and assist them with legal matters and questions of corporate law administration.

The Legal & Company Secretariat is also responsible for continual compliance with the legal regulations and is guided by further, high corporate governance standards such as the Swiss Code of Best Practice for Corporate Governance of economiesuisse or the anti-bribery regulations due to the stock exchange listing in London.

The main tasks of the Legal & Company Secretariat include, among others, supporting the hospital and business divisions with contractual reviews, legal clarifications in the event of specific issues, fulfilment of compliance requirements, e.g. in the VITH area, or the coordination of legal advice by third parties.

Moreover, Legal, and in particular the Company Secretariat, is responsible for the Board and Annual General Meetings as well as for the corporate and commercial legal administration of the Hirslanden Group. This includes, among other things, audit-proof administration and safekeeping of share certificates and the keeping of share registers/books and documents as well as the corresponding protocols.

Internal developments and external implications constantly change the framework conditions affecting the Hirslanden Group. Even though this provides new opportunities, it also involves new risks which must be actively managed. Therefore, our risk management aims to identify potential risks early on, assess them and take appropriate action to avert imminent damage to the organisation.

To meet this objective, our risk management process was specially designed to ensure that harmonised approaches are employed in all business divisions and units (Hirslanden Group, Corporate Office and hospitals) to validate strategic, financial and operative risks and their controls. This includes reporting, group-wide surveys, risk and control inventories as well as ad hoc risk reports for the company management.

Our internal auditors provide independent, objective auditing and advisory services to generate added value and improve our business processes. They help the Hirslanden Group to achieve its goals by assessing and improving the efficacy of the risk management, the controls, and the management/monitoring processes in a systematic, targeted manner.