International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance

Purpose – Following the “Patient Quality and Safety Contract” launch by the Belgian Federal Authorities, Belgian hospital web sites were scrutinized. The aim of this paper is to assess the presence of some sort of quality management strategy within Belgian Acute Care Hospital digital external communications.

Design/methodology/approach – Digital communications were assessed using a pre-established grid focusing on direct quality improvement testimonies, like a quality manager presence, a quality committee, a specific strategy, etc.

Findings – Two hypotheses explain the poor results: structured quality improvement exists in organizations but senior managers do not feel the need to transparently communicate the subject; and quality improvement does not exist in a sufficiently structured way to allow open communication.

Practical implications – The proposed Federal Contract should improve both quality initiative quality and frequency as well as transparent communication to healthcare workers and patients.

Originality/value – The paper underlines the urgent need for Belgian healthcare executives to be aware of structured quality management strategy's importance and to be eager to openly communicate the strategy.