Máxima Medisch Centrum

Plans for the Sint-Josephziekenhuis had existed since 1915. Building started in 1930 at the Aalsterweg in Eindhoven, and it opened on 9 June 1932. It was designed by architect Eduard Cuypers and had 200 beds. During the second world war the building was used for injured German troops. In 1991 the hospital relocated to Veldhoven, to its current location.[2]

In the early 20th century the city of Eindhoven, located in the Roman Catholic area of the Netherlands, had two mainly Roman Catholic hospitals, the Binnenziekenhuis en the Sint-Josephziekenhuis. During this period, Protestants from the rest of the country, relocated to Eindhoven, to work at Philips, causing a growth of the Protestant population. Since 1929 the "Vereeniging voor Protestantsch-Christelijke Ziekenverpleging" (English: Association for Protestant-Christian Patient Care) had put in effort to get a Protestant hospital. In 1933 an emergency hospital was opened in a villa at the Parklaan in Eindhoven, mainly by the efforts of Phillipes headnurse Johanna Kleinod, and with financial support of dr. Anton Philips, who wanted the best medical care for all his employees, no matter what their religious orientation. With 20 beds it was soon found too small and in 1935 Villa Elsheim was bought with financial support of Philips. The new hospital, with 90 beds and a modern Rontgen department, was opened on 13 January 1940. In the 1950s the hospital was once again too small and in April 1967 it relocated to the Ds. Fliednerlaan in Woensel, Eindhoven.[3]

In the mid 1980s the Diaconessenhuis was one of the first Dutch hospitals where laparoscopic surgery was done. It was the first Dutch hospital to perform a laparoscopic removal of a gallbladder.

On 1 January 2002 the Sint-Josephziekenhuis and Diaconessenhuis fused and continued under the name Máxima Medisch Centrum. The new hospital was named after the wife of the then Dutch crown prince, Maxima of the Netherlands, who married that same year.[4] On 1 September 2008 the services offered in the two locations was reorganised with the Veldhoven location becoming the main location for complex care, and the Eindhoven location for planned and minor care.[5]

Location Veldhoven is the main location of Máxima Medisch Centrum. It is used for policlinical consultations, complex surgeries, Woman Mother Child-centre, emergency care and intensive care.[5]

In 2012 Maxima of the Netherlands opened the Woman Mother Child-centre on location Veldhoven, an obstetric and neonatal high care centre where mother and child can be together during the first 24 hours after birth, even when high care is needed.[8]

Location Eindhoven is used for policlinical consultations, plannable care and day care patients.[5]