Report from the Supervisory Board
‘An agile organization with a clear dot on the horizon’
UMC Utrecht is facing considerable social tasks such as keeping quality healthcare accessible and affordable, conducting unique scientific research, ensuring the funding and valorization thereof, and providing innovative, multidisciplinary education.
Topics that regularly come up in the various discussions and meetings that we as Supervisory Board held in 2023, included the Integral Healthcare Agreement (IZA) and Healthcare of Tomorrow program, the quality and safety of healthcare, sustainability, and diversity and inclusiveness in healthcare, research, and education. Employee recruitment and retention also received attention, as did the resilience and well-being of students. We furthermore looked at the financial side of affairs, such as quarterly figures, decisions in the scope of the 2024 budget, and the approval of annual figures and the 2022 financial statements. As Supervisory Board, we feel closely involved in the dialog around the concentration of care for children with congenital heart defects and the establishment of a collaboration agreement with Amsterdam UMC and Leids University Medical Center for academic cardiology and pediatric care.
During contact moments we were again and again impressed by the way in which innovation is conducted at UMC Utrecht. Not only by researchers, but also by colleagues in healthcare and education. Artificial intelligence (AI) and data science continue to allow better and more efficient care. And in our training programs, virtual reality is for example used as an effective complement to practical training. Although technology continues to offer more and more possibilities, we fortunately also observe that humans remain central at UMC Utrecht. We see this for instance in the launch of the This is Us campaign and the focus on psycho-social support for employees. The continuously increasing collaboration with regional and (inter)national partners also show that UMC Utrecht acts in the collective interest.
A number of changes occurred in the Supervisory Board in 2023. Caroline Princen stepped down. She was a member of the Supervisory Board of UMC Utrecht for almost nine years, including five years as chair. We are indebted to her for her tremendous input and valuable contribution both to the Supervisory Board and to UMC Utrecht as an organization. The undersigned took the chair over from Caroline as of June 1, 2023. In view of the renovation task that lies before UMC Utrecht, the Supervisory Board took Monique Maarsen on board. She is an expert in accommodation and building issues. In her previous secondary function at KiKa she was for example closely involved in the construction of the Princess Máxima Center.
All in all we may conclude that UMC Utrecht sees social tasks as its mission. UMC Utrecht furthermore has a sound financial basis. In the future, the organization will however face considerable financial challenges when it comes to investing in buildings, digitalization, and increasing sustainability. Also for this reason it makes sense that UMC Utrecht in 2023 further gave shape to the Healthcare of Tomorrow program whereby all challenges are brought together integrally and the focus is on achieving an efficient organization.
We have great confidence in the Executive Board and in the direction that was taken some years ago already towards the healthcare of tomorrow. The objective is clear, and the basis – the Connecting Worlds strategy – is steadfast. At the same time the organization has shown itself to be agile in its response to external and internal tasks. We believe that the Executive Board has a clear vision of the main challenges and opportunities and is working on these together with all employees in a driven and efficient manner. UMC Utrecht is making great strides and we are happy about it.
On behalf of the Supervisory Board,
Henk Broeders, chair
Read more on how the Supervisory Board executed its supervisory task in 2023.
