Process of your inpatient stay

Before your inpatient stay at Hirslanden Salem-Spital

Admission form and confirmation of coverage

Please send us the admission form so that we can request confirmation of coverage in good time. The information about your health insurance and/or accident insurance company and your insurance coverage (basic, basic throughout Switzerland, semi-private or private) is important. Please inform your health insurance and/or accident insurance company directly of your upcoming admission to hospital so as to clarify in advance which costs are covered.

More information about insurance coverage & billing of costs

Anaesthesia

Please read the consent form and complete the anaesthesia questionnaire and return both to us by post in good time. If you will be admitted at short notice (<7 days), please bring these two forms to the hospital. The questionnaire does not have to be completed for cardiology procedures.

More information about anaesthesia

Personal items and valuables

A checklist of the important items that you will need for your hospital stay is available in the download centre on the right. Please do not take any valuables or larger sums of money to the hospital. The hospital is not liable for anything that goes missing. The cupboard in your room contains a small lockable safe for storing your valuables. You can deposit cash and small valuables in the safe at Patient Admissions (for which a receipt will be issued). Please note that Patient Admissions is staffed from Monday to Friday from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm.

Medication

Please bring your usual medication in its original packaging to the hospital for review purposes. Pill organisers are not suitable. If you are not sure which medication you have to take before the procedure, please contact your attending surgeon.

Do you suffer from a chronic disease for which you regularly receive outpatient therapy prescribed by a doctor? Please find out from your healthcare partner in advance whether such treatment will take place during your planned inpatient stay.

Special requirements

If you require an extra-long bed or have any other special needs, please inform Patient Administration in good time.

Patient decree

Making provision for the unforeseen

A stay in hospital can be a good opportunity to review your personal outlook on life, your values and wishes as well as your expectations and hopes for your health and illness.

If you can no longer make your own decisions

You probably have your own ideas about what medical treatment you would want if an accident or disease should mean that you can no longer express your wishes. In such situations, the patient decree ensures that your personal wishes are known and can be taken into account by your treatment team.

You can also appoint one or two persons in the patient decree who will protect your wishes and make decisions on your behalf if you cannot be consulted. Therefore, it is therefore very important to discuss the patient decree in detail with your representatives and to explain your personal values and wishes to them.

We are here to help you

If you should decide to draw up a patient decree now or at a later date, we will be happy to provide you with a template during your stay in hospital. This template was drawn up by the Swiss Medical Association and the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences. To avoid contradictions or misunderstandings, it is important to formulate your personal wishes as clearly as possible.

We would advise you to consult a specialist when completing the patient decree. If you would like such a consultation, you can request one free of charge during your stay in hospital. Please call the Care Services Secretariat on T +41 31 337 68 58 to make an appointment with Care Services Management.

If you have already drawn up a personal patient decree, please bring it to the hospital and give it to your nurse.

During your inpatient stay at Hirslanden Salem-Spital

Admission

Please report to Reception when you arrive at the hospital. The dates for medical clarifications will already be determined before your admission.

Please note that we have a general duty as an acute hospital to admit patients for emergencies, so we cannot always guarantee appointments for elective surgeries. In the case of purely elective procedures, patients with private and semi-private insurance coverage have priority when the admission and OR times are allocated.

If you cannot attend your appointment, please contact your attending doctor to cancel the appointment at least 24 hours in advance. If you cancel at short notice or fail to appear for the appointment, we reserve the right to charge you a flat rate for expenses. Your insurance company will not cover these costs.

Before the examination or surgery

Your attending doctor will discuss the procedure with you beforehand. You will also have a preliminary examination with your anaesthetist. The nursing staff will inform you about any additional preparations in good time.

Please note the following when preparing for the procedure:

• You must usually have an empty stomach before admission on the day of the procedure. This means that you may do the following:
  • Eat light food up to 6 hours before admission
  • Drink clear fluids such as water or tea (no dairy products) up to 2 hours before admissio
• Shower and do not apply any make-up or body care products afterwards.
• Please do not wear any finger rings, earrings or toe rings, hairbands, necklaces or any other jewellery, including piercings
• Please remove nail polish and artificial nails.
• Depending on the type of procedure, it may be necessary to shave the surgical site; this can also be done by the OR staff.

You will receive your prescribed medication before the procedure from your nurse as preparation for the anaesthetic. As soon as you have taken it, you should not leave your bed on your own.

Patient safety

Patient safety is a top priority at our hospital. Our commitment to safety will be evident in relation to various aspects of your stay, two of which are worth mentioning here:

• In addition to other routine questions, you will be asked several times before procedure to confirm your identity and the place on your body where the surgery will take place. These questions are part of our surgical checklist, which ensures that the right patient receives surgery on the right body part and organ.
• One of the most important standard hygiene measures for preventing infections at our ISO-certified hospital is the use of hand disinfectant by our staff and doctors.
  

Upon entering the hospital, you will receive a patient identification bracelet from us for your safety.

The examination or surgery

In the examination room, the examination team will take over your further care and inform you about the individual phases of the procedure. If you are undergoing surgery, the nursing staff will bring you in your bed to the surgical wing, where your anaesthesia team will receive you. The anaesthesia methods are determined based on your health condition as well as the type and duration of the procedure. The surgical team will be responsible for your safety and well-being during the entire procedure.

If the procedure is to be carried out under regional or local anaesthesia, you can listen to the music you have brought with you via your headphones. Depending on the procedure and if you wish to do so, you can follow the examination and surgery on a screen.

After the examination or surgery

After a general or regional anaesthetic, a specially trained specialist team will look after you on the recovery ward. Please be aware that you cannot always be housed on the recovery ward in accordance with your insurance status. After certain procedures or examinations conducted under local anaesthetic, you may be taken back directly to your room.

Any pain which arises after the surgery will be treated by the anaesthesia team with pain relief procedures which are adjusted individually to your needs and your state of health. These include patient controlled pain procedures (PCA) or treatments using special catheters (PDA) for patients who have undergone larger operations. Your anaesthetist will discuss this procedure with you in detail during the pre-op meeting.

Hospital stay and services at Hirslanden Salem-Spital

Medical care

All our affiliated doctors are experienced specialists who guarantee you optimum medical treatment. You can freely choose your attending doctor. The affiliated doctors carry out the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and treatments in the hospital. They also work in their own practices, but can be reached via the hospital. Salem-Spital has its own General Internal Medicine Department, which runs an emergency centre and looks after internal medicine inpatients. A doctor of the General Internal Medicine Department is therefore available on-site around the clock. This medical team looks after some of the inpatients. An operating and anaesthesia team is also on standby 24/7.

Your attending doctor will visit you daily, answer any questions you may have and discuss your ongoing care with you and the nursing staff. The visiting hours are not fixed.

You will find information about nursing care, hotel-style and catering services on the following sub-pages.

Discharge from Hirslanden Salem-Spital

Time of discharge

Your discharge date will be determined in consultation with your doctor and the nursing staff. Please vacate your room by 9.00 am at the latest on this day so we can prepare it for the new patients.

Checking out

Please let your nurse know that you are leaving, and hand in your telephone card with your discharge forms at Reception.

Treatment and rehabilitation stay, Spitex

Follow-up care should be discussed and organised with your doctor in good time. Upon request, our Social Services unit will help you to plan the time after your stay in hospital.

Delivery of medication and aids

Before leaving, your doctor or nurse will inform you about the medication and aids that you will need after your discharge.

As an additional free service, the pharmacist at Salem-Spital will check your long-term medication and your new prescription to make sure that there are no interactions and that nothing has been prescribed twice. When you are discharged, you can collect and obtain advice about your medication and other aids from Salem Pharmacy at the main entrance.

Counselling services and therapy

Information about Salem-Spital’s counselling services and therapy is available here.

We value your opinion

The welfare of our patients is at the centre of everything we do – whether it is providing medical treatment, nursing or hotel-style and catering services. Since no one can judge how we are doing better than our patients themselves, the whole Hirslanden Private Hospital Group works together with the specialised company Press Ganey. After your stay in hospital, you will receive a satisfaction survey questionnaire by e-mail. We would therefore like to thank you for providing us with your e-mail address. You will participate in the satisfaction survey on an anonymous basis. We will always reply to any feedback addressed to us personally. We would like to thank you for your valued support.

Insurance coverage and invoice

Emergency medical care is always guaranteed at the Salem-Spital – regardless of your canton of residence and the type of health insurance you have. The Salem-Spital admits patients in all insurance classes.

Cost coverage by health insurance or accident insurance providers

Please check which costs are covered by your health insurance or accident insurance company. If you are unsure, contact them and request detailed information.

Inpatient care

If you live in the canton of Bern and have basic health insurance or the supplementary insurance "allgemein ganze Schweiz" (basic insurance that is valid throughout Switzerland), your health insurance company or the canton will be directly invoiced a fixed amount for the hospital services and doctor’s fees. If residents from other cantons with basic health insurance receive medical care in Bern, the canton and the basic health insurance might only cover the costs that would have been incurred if the person had received the same care in their home canton.
However, if the person has private or semi-private insurance, the health insurance company will cover any additional services in accordance with their insurance policy (minus excess/franchise and personal expenses).

Doctor’s fees

Patients with supplementary insurance will receive a separate invoice from their attending doctor. That is why the hospital cannot provide any information about the doctor’s fees. If you have basic health insurance, the doctor’s fees are included in the fixed amount.

No health insurance or insufficient coverage

Patients who do not have health and/or accident insurance, who have insufficient insurance coverage or whose procedure is not covered by statutory health insurance have to deposit the amount of the planned treatment before admission to the hospital. This payment will be deducted from the final invoice.

Invoicing

If you have compulsory basic health insurance, an invoice will be issued in accordance with the legally defined Swiss DRG tariffs and sent directly to your health insurance or accident insurance company. A separate invoice is prepared for patients with private or semi-private insurance. Depending on the agreement with the health insurance company, this invoice will either be sent directly to you or to your health insurance company. You will generally receive separate invoices for private expenses such as visitor meals and cosmetic products.

Do you have any questions about the costs or insurance coverage?

If you have any questions, please call us. You can reach Patient Services from Monday to Thursday from 8.00 am to 12.00 pm / 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm and on Friday from 8.00 am to 12.00 pm and 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm on T +41 31 335 72 41.

Upgrade

We will be happy to prepare a personal quotation tailored to your needs for an upgrade to semi-private or private insurance for your stay in hospital. This quotation will help you decide whether you wish to have an upgrade, or not. Patient Administration is at your service on T +41 31 335 73 99.

Quality

Strategic quality management

Salem-Spital derives its quality objectives from the Hirslanden corporate strategy. As such, the various quality management activities and projects are coordinated and monitored in line with the objectives that have been set for the Group as a whole. These are reviewed by Hospital Management every year.

Patient safety

We participate in all legally prescribed quality assurance procedures and maintain in-house procedures that go far beyond the statutory requirements. Our objectives focus primarily on the optimisation of process quality, which enhances patient safety.

ISO certification

All Hirslanden hospitals have been certified in accordance with the ISO standard 9001:2008 in respect of their sustainable quality management processes. Compliance to the standards is verified annually through external audits at all of the Group’s hospitals.

As part of the improvement process, work procedures are constantly reviewed and the results for a large number of services are analysed. The resulting findings allow us to formulate and introduce new measures to further improve patient satisfaction and safety.

Satisfaction survey

The welfare of our patients is at the centre of everything we do – whether it is providing medical treatment, nursing care or hotel-style and catering services. Since no one can judge how we are doing better than our patients themselves, the whole Hirslanden Private Hospital Group works together with the specialised company Press Ganey to measure patient satisfaction.