Brussels, at the height of the Middle Ages. A few priests, clerics and members of the bourgeoisie joined together to form the Confrérie du Saint-Esprit (Brethren of the Free Spirit) which set up a general hospital: the Saint Jean op de Poel Hospital.
This was our beginning!
Care was dispensed by members of the Congrégation des Sœurs Hospitalières Augustines (congregation of Augustine Hospital sisters) who lived and worked at the hospital in a spirit of devotion and self-denial, as instructed by the order of Saint-Augustine. In 1500 they took over the helm of the general hospital.
During the French Revolution, they gave over part of the care to the Commission of hospices but from 1851 they took it over again, this time for good. Since then, much water has flowed under the bridges of the Senne…
A few signal dates:
| 1851 | Construction of the clinic on its current site. Reconstruction and reconfigurations would follow throughout the century |
| 1935 | The second Brussels polyclinic, which had existed since 1913, was bought over |
| 1956 | Pie X school of nursing, maternity and paediatrics opened |
| 1971 | Dialysis unit established |
| 1977 | Coronary unit set up separately from intensive care |
| 1980 | Medical day hospital opened. Geriatric and psychiatric units set up |
| 1986 | Team of intensive care physicians instituted |
| 1988 | Team of emergency physicians formed |
| 1990 | A new medical-surgical-cardiovascular division installed and the palliative care unit established |
| 1991 | Inauguration of the Fondation Saint-Jean (Saint-Jean Foundation) |
| 1994 | Initiation of day surgery |
| 1995 | Psychiatric emergency medicine introduced |
| 2000 | Paediatric psychiatric department opened |
| 2001 | Opening of Pet-Scan department, Brussels-Halle |
| 2004 | Inauguration of the new building |
| 2008 | Official acquisition of the Clinique Saint-Etienne in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, which becomes the Méridien location |
| 2014 | Acquisition of 78 hospital beds from the Magnolia geriatric centre in Jette under the location name “Léopold I” |
| 2016 | Inauguration and opening of the new emergency department and intensive care unit |
| 2017 | Opening of the new surgical day hospital (site Botanique) |
| 2018 | Opening of the new low-care dialysis unit (site Méridien) |
| 2019 | Opening of the new maternity (site Botanique) |