"Be better today than yesterday"

The proud building of the Rheinburg-Klinik was erected in 1872 as an educational and teaching institute. But this was not a good time: the construction costs were greatly exceeded, the adjacent church was damaged by the construction and, last but not least, the students froze in the poorly heated rooms. The builder and village priest Johannes Kopp finally sold the house to Franz Stadler.

From the hotel ...
Franz Stadler and his brother converted the house into a hotel, which soon gained a solid reputation. Members of well-known noble families stayed at the Rheinburg, even the King of Romania was among the guests.

"The Rheinburg Clinic is kind of the icing on the cake right now."

ten. But the heyday ended with the First and ultimately the Second World War: increasing mobility made new holiday destinations in the south more attractive than the Lake Constance region. In 1965, the Association of Swiss Family Hostels took over the Rheinburg from Ferdinand Stadler. Finally, in 1985, the Appenzell-Ausserrhodische Kantonalbank bought the former hotel palace. The old building was renovated and converted into a clinic. In 1993, an attempt was made to set up a clinic for "pain medicine". This was not successful enough, the bed occupancy remained below expectations. The operation was discontinued.

... to the rehabilitation clinic
The married couple Dr. med. Martin Rutz and Louise Rutz-LaPitz then laid the foundation stone for the current orientation of the Rheinburg Clinic with a new concept: From then on, it was to serve acute inpatient rehabilitation for diseases of the musculoskeletal system and neurological diseases. The building was also extensively renovated and expanded. Since 2015, the Rheinburg Clinic Walzenhausen has been owned by the Valens Clinics Foundation as a fully-fledged subsidiary. With the sale, the succession and the continuation of the concept were regulated. The Rheinburg Clinic thus remains an attractive part of the hospital landscape in Eastern Switzerland and secures a wide range of jobs in the healthcare sector in the Appenzeller Vorderland. The clinic currently has 64 beds for patients with private, semi-private and general insurance. In addition, the clinic operates outpatient clinics at two locations: in Walzenhausen and in St. Gallen. A training centre for advanced and further training is also part of the range of services. A total of 185 employees work in the clinic and the outpatient clinics. In 2015, 785 patients were admitted, which corresponds to an occupancy rate of 94 percent. A total of 20,578 nursing days were provided. A total turnover of CHF 18.5 million was generated (2015).

Two thirds of the patients treated suffer from neurological diseases, one third from musculoskeletal diseases. The aim of rehabilitation in both areas is to promote the patients' independence as best as possible and to reintegrate them as far as possible into family, society and work. The inpatient treatment and therapy concept is based on a holistic view of the interaction between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system, which is unique in Switzerland, as the Rheinburg Clinic describes its USP. The integrative treatment and therapy concept in conjunction with the very personal care enables above-average rehabilitation success for the patients.

"Business Unit" with a lot of freedom
Within the Valens hospital group, the Rheinburg-Klinik benefits from its holding structure, uses the central services, but retains its own service portfolio like the other hospitals in the group. The Rheinburg-Klinik is managed by the director Dr. Edith Kasper . "The character, the identity of the house is important. And the management of the Rheinburg Clinic should be able to implement its own ideas, which is also an ideal way for us. We provide support so that the clinic can continue to grow," explains Dr. Till Hor-nung, Chairman of the Executive Board of Valens Clinics and a member of the management of Rheinburg Clinic. Accordingly, there is an overall strategy for the whole group, and sub-strategies are derived from this for the individual clinics. "All our clinics are functioning organisms with their own logic. They should benefit from the Group, but without being centralised," Hornung continues.

Broad-based quality management
The quality of the Swiss healthcare system is high - in line with the demands of patients. Like many other clinics, the Rheinburg-Klinik also measures the satisfaction of its patients and systematically evaluates the results. The knowledge gained from this is used for the continuous improvement processes. Dr. Till Hornung emphasizes that the hospital also wants to differentiate itself with regard to patient surveys. "We do not work with five-page questionnaires, but ask our patients about their satisfaction during their stay. And five days after discharge, we call the patients again and can obtain very differentiated positive feedback in this way." Furthermore, the Rheinburg-Klinik is subject to various external audits or surveys, for example by Swiss Reha, edu-Qua or ANQ (National Association for Quality Development in Hospitals and Clinics). This allows a comparability of the services.

EFQM model within the clinic group
The Rheinburg-Klinik embarked on the path to excellence in 2002: At that time, a process-oriented quality management system was launched, which has been continuously updated to this day. On the occasion of a management day in 2005, the EFQM model was discovered. Its basic concepts were integrated into the 2008 vision. In 2010, the Rheinburg-Klinik then tackled the "Commitment to Excellence" stage. It received the recognition for this at the beginning of 2011. Two years later, the next step followed in the form of the recognition "Recognised for Excellence 3*". Building on this, the decision was made to participate in the ESPRIX Swiss Award for Excellence in order to obtain input for the further development of the company through a renewed assessment.

The Rheinburg Clinic serves as a beacon of excellence within the Valens Clinics. Till Hornung wants to use this for the entire group. "Until three years ago, we were still a pure ISO house, but we were looking for an instrument for further improvement. Now we can profit from the experience of the Rheinburg-Klinik - at the moment it is something like the icing on the cake," he says and immediately explains where he sees the advantages of the EFQM model: "The model offers a structure for further development without being restrictive. Hornung describes the concept of excellence as follows: "Being better today than yesterday." And with its placement in the final for the ESPRIX Swiss Award for Excellence, it is not only the Rheinburg Clinic that has further fulfilled this claim. "We are satisfied with where we are. But we still want to make progress," concludes Dr. Till Hornung - on behalf of the clinic's management.