Letter from the Director The year 2023 saw the full recovery of hospital activity. Thanks to teamwork and commitment from all our professionals, together with the consolidation of our knowledge area-based healthcare organisation model, we succeeded in raising the indicators of our hospital activity and exceeding the 2019 figures in many areas. We also continued to build the new Vall d’Hebron, which involves creating new spaces and refurbishing others, while acquiring the best technology, for the benefit of patients and, of course, professionals. Examples of the New Vall d’Hebron include: the launch of One Step Ictus, providing us with state-of-the-art stroke care technology; the Trauma Center, a new space and model to provide the best care for polytrauma patients; the new hospitalisation ward in the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Area, providing mental health care for our youngest patients, one of the great challenges of our time; and the new Child and Adolescent Rehabilitation Therapeutic Area, made possible by the support of non-profit foundations. Mention should also be made of the completion of the refurbishment to the emergency department, culminating in implementation of the new emergency care model, and the start of work on the new onco-haematology hospitalisation unit for children. The good indicators for 2023 are also thanks to: the implementation of the citizen participation plan and the Strategic Participation Committee, made up of professionals from the Hospital and patients’ organisations; the strategic plan for the paediatric and adult oncology and haematology areas; and the new approach to outpatient care for health problems. Collaboration with the region is also essential in continuing to improve patient care. In this regard, in 2023 we launched the home hospitalisation team for children and started working with the Montcada i Reixach sexual and reproductive healthcare centre. We also consolidated the programme for frequently attending patients in the Emergency Department, in collaboration with the Catalan Health Institute Barcelona City Primary Care Service and the Hospital de Sant Rafael. This has improved the quality of life of complex chronic patients who frequently attend our Emergency Department. We continue investing in professional development, with the research training programme and grants for stays in foreign centres. We remain firmly committed to training and research that help improveme in all areas. Thanks to this major healthcare endeavour, Vall d’Hebron became the first centre in Spain to receive accreditation from the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI) as a comprehensive cancer centre. Further recognition included passing the CSUR (Comité de Designación de Centros, Servicios y Unidades de Referencia del Sistema Nacional de Salud [National Health System Committee for the Designation of Centres, Services and Reference Units]) assessments, while Newsweek ranked Vall d’Hebron University Hospital as the 4th best hospital in Spain and the 83rd best in the world. The figures in this report reflect the excellent work of over 9,500 professionals at Vall d’Hebron. In 2023, we attended 211,507 emergencies (208,371 in 2022 and 210,102 in 2019) and provided 116,307 day hospital sessions (114,606 in 2022, and 112,087 in 2019). It is also worth stressing that one of our main aims is to continue promoting highly specialised surgery. And the indicators for 2023 show we are on the right track: we exceeded 61,000 total operations (after carrying out 54,408 in 2022), of which 35,990 were major surgery (after carrying out 34,743 in 2022). We also increased the number of discharges (59,245 in 2023 and 57,367 in 2022), the number of transplants (497 in 2023 and 465 in 2022) and the number of outpatient appointments (1,209,456 in 2023 and 1,161,564 in 2022). Albert Salazar Director of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital