Building a New Hospital in Spain on Schedule and within Budget

Luis Barcia Albacar, Director General of Torrevieja Salud UTE Hospital in Torrevieja, Spain, shared his experience of building a new hospital within budget and opening on schedule in October 2006 with all services operational. Located on the east coast of Spain, the 220-bed hospital was built to accommodate a full-time population of 213,000, but also needed to be able to service the surge of summer residents and tourists, adding 475,000 to the population.

Luis Barcia Albacar; General Manager of the Hospital Torrevieja Salud,...
Luis Barcia Albacar; General Manager of the Hospital Torrevieja Salud, Torrevieja, Spain talked in the "Finance Session" of the Hospital Management Symposium about "Hospital financing based on business plans:
The launch planning of a hospital begins the same day its construction ends"
Luis Barcia Albacar, Director General of Torrevieja Salud UTE Hospital in Torrevieja, Spain, shared his experience of building a new hospital within budget and opening on schedule in October 2006with all services operational. Located on the east coast of Spain, the 220-bed hospital was built to accommodate a full-time population of 213,000, but also needed to be able to service the surge of summer residents and tourists, adding 475,000 to the population. 

 

Torrevieja Salud UTE Hospital has an interesting business model. It was initiated and funded by the Valencia regional public health authority, but is privately management. Mr. Albacar said that construction, planning and adhering to budget was implemented like a corporation would build a new facility.  Planning was rigorous, and encompassed both administrative and clinical workflows, IT architecture, equipment, staff recruitment, and training.  Construction was tightly controlled, with a project management team involved in all aspects.

 

In its first year of operation, 15,000 surgical procedures were performed, the hospital achieved Spain’s lowest average inpatient stay of 4.1 days, and had an enviable emergency department wait of just 40 minutes.

10.03.2008

Read all latest stories

Related articles

Photo

Article •

How much IT does healthcare really need?

The question is increasingly significant. Information technology (IT) has thrust itself into all corners of life — some argue for better, some for worse, largely because efficient electronic…

Photo

Article •

"Hospital of the future" opens according to master plan

The new Clinic of the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany, which opened on 2 February, is part of a "master plan" to transform the UKE into one of the most up-to-date and…

Photo

Article •

The Hospital Manager Symposium

Participation in the Hospital Manager Symposium, which is organized by EUROPEAN HOSPITAL in cooperation with the European Congress of Radiology and which is part of the congress, has increased…

Related products

Subscribe to Newsletter