De Nationale Trombose Dienst
De Nationale Trombose Dienst: "Quality lies in good communication"
On average, people with thrombosis need to have their blood clotting checked every 22 days. This is done with a simple finger prick. In the pre-digital era, patients had no choice but to visit a regional thrombosis service. But nowadays, De Nationale Trombose Dienst offers the option of self-monitoring: you test at home and submit your clotting values via the website. In your personal patient portal, you can then see how many tablets you need to take.
Freedom
“We’re not selling healthcare; we’re selling freedom,” says Hugo Stoevelaar, operational director at De Nationale Trombose Dienst. “With self-monitoring, you can come and go as you please. You can submit your values to us from anywhere with an internet connection—whether you’re on holiday or looking after your grandchildren on your regular babysitting day.”
Reliable service
Thrombosis Self-Care is fast, simple, and reliable. And it was precisely because of that reliability that De Nationale Trombose Dienst urgently sought a new hosting provider in 2014. Stoevelaar recalls: “Our website went down on a Friday. We decided immediately: enough is enough, we’re switching to another hosting provider. One of our employees had contacts at BIT. And to our surprise, they came over that very weekend. We migrated our entire system to BIT’s data centre in Ede on a Sunday, without any preparation.”
Personal Communication
There was no lengthy selection process involved—and fortunately, none was needed, says Stoevelaar. “Our choice back then was largely based on instinct. They respond exactly the way we do when a customer or prospect calls us with a question: they answer straight away, without making you log a ticket first or putting you on hold in a call centre. Direct, personal communication—it sounds so simple, but which supplier still offers that these days?”
An Extra Pair of Eyes
Naturally, De Nationale Trombose Dienst also pays attention to other aspects of the service. “The price-quality ratio is good. We’re not looking for the cheapest option; we want a provider that delivers high quality and thinks along with us. A while ago, BIT called us because they’d noticed one of our products would be out of service in a year’s time. They flagged it and asked us to start thinking about it. They’re like an extra pair of eyes, keeping watch with us.”
Good Coordination
He also praises the ongoing coordination, such as around system maintenance. Stoevelaar explains: “We know that very few people log in to the website between 11 pm and 6 am, so maintenance should happen during that window. Almost every hosting provider performs maintenance at night, but not everyone communicates it in advance. We like to inform our customers when the service might be temporarily unavailable—especially as we have clients living abroad who may only check their clotting values or medication schedule during those nighttime hours.”
Accessibility
It’s this personal communication around a digital service that Stoevelaar particularly values. “Because that’s exactly how we operate ourselves—and why we’ve consistently scored well above a 9 on Zorgkaart Nederland.” The top review at the time of the interview reads: “The staff are always there for you, answer your questions in clear language, and offer helpful advice wherever possible.” “Well,” laughs Stoevelaar, “that could’ve been my review of BIT. But joking aside, that’s the heart of my satisfaction. I’m sure there are plenty of hosting providers on par with BIT technically. But I doubt many are as accessible as BIT. For me, that’s where true service quality lies.”
