We are the combination of four hospitals: the General Hospital, the Children’s Hospital, the Women’s Hospital and the Traumatology, Rehabilitation and Burns Hospital. We are part of the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus: a world-leading health park where healthcare plays a crucial role.
Patients are the centre and the core of our system. We are professionals committed to quality care and our organizational structure breaks down the traditional boundaries between departments and professional groups, with an exclusive model of knowledge areas.
Would you like to know what your stay at Vall d'Hebron will be like? Here you will find all the information.
The commitment of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital to innovation allows us to be at the forefront of medicine, providing first class care adapted to the changing needs of each patient.
The Mental Health Area at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital provides comprehensive care across all stages of life, from childhood to adulthood. It includes inpatient units for children, adolescents, and adults, as well as collaboration with Sant Rafael Hospital within the Integrated Psychiatry Unit. The area also offers hospital consultations, outpatient clinics, day hospitals, home care programs, and an addictions section with a specialized community center, ensuring continuity of care and personalized attention.
The area is committed to innovation and digitalization through the integration of new technologies and the parametrization of healthcare data to improve communication, safety, and patient follow-up. Notably, the project for parametrizing clinical scales in psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and ADHD is underway, with plans to expand to other conditions. This model strengthens team flexibility, enhances the role of nursing, and promotes patient-centered care focused on individual well-being.
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Healthcare Social Work
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Psychiatry
The Digestive Diseases Area of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital provides inpatient care, outpatient services, and 24-hour emergency coverage. In addition, the staff actively participates in teaching and both clinical and basic research, contributing to professional training and scientific knowledge.
This model promotes continuous improvement and professional development in care, teaching, research, and innovation, ensuring comprehensive, patient-centered care. Notable projects include the Strategic Plan with multidisciplinary groups and the creation of the intermediate care unit, which provides specialized care for patients with severe complications such as digestive hemorrhages, pancreatitis, or postoperative conditions.
Digestive System
Hepatology
The Neurosciences Knowledge Area of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital is transversal and present at the Hospital of Traumatology and Rehabilitation, the General Hospital, and the Maternal and Child Hospital. It also includes the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Catalonia (CEMCAT) and research groups from VHIR and VHIO. The area brings together services and units with teams composed of physicians, nurses, auxiliaries, and radiology technicians.
The area’s strategic plan has driven structural changes to optimize access to diagnostic tests and rehabilitation during hospitalization. Notable initiatives include the creation of roles such as advanced practice nurses and the incorporation of neuropsychology, particularly for neurodegenerative diseases. The area is a reference center for rare diseases, with five accredited CSURs and six CSURs plus five XUECs that promote high-impact research projects. Last year, more than 400 scientific articles were published, with 60 % in the first quartile and half in the first decile, reflecting the leadership and research commitment of the area’s professionals.
Clinical Neurophysiology
Neurology
Neurosurgery
Paediatric Neurology
The Alternatives to Hospitalization Area of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital offers diagnostic and therapeutic options that do not require hospital admission, improving patients’ well-being and quality of life. It is made up of the Rapid Diagnostic Unit, outpatient clinics, the Hospital at Home Service (HAD), the ESIC, and the General Day Hospital, which together provide agile, tailored, and coordinated care. Working by areas of expertise has standardized protocols and strengthened the multidisciplinary approach, taking into account both the patient’s health status and personal context.
Networking with healthcare providers in the region facilitates comprehensive care, particularly for complex chronic patients with recurrent needs. The North Axis project promotes collaboration between hospital services, primary care, and social and long-term care centers, offering continuous and close-to-home care. With this innovative and efficient model, the area reduces hospital admissions and promotes patient-centered care and continuity of care.
Internal Medicine
The Critical Care Area of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital is made up of a multidisciplinary team of professionals specialized in the care of critically ill patients, both adults and children, inside and outside the intensive care units (ICUs). The units are distributed across different buildings on the campus: the Trauma ICU and trauma step-down units at the Hospital of Traumatology, Rehabilitation, and Burn Care; the General ICU and step-down units at the General Hospital, and the Pediatric ICU at the Children’s Hospital. This organization allows for specialized and comprehensive care, ensuring more efficient and streamlined processes for patients during their ICU stay.
The critical care team leads or participates in key programs such as organ donation and transplantation, the ECMO program, management of cardiopulmonary arrests, and the treatment of urgent conditions such as polytrauma code, sepsis code, and stroke code. It also collaborates in the transport of complex critical patients, both adults and children. In addition, the team drives safety projects such as safe patient transfer and joint handover meetings, where all professionals gather to coordinate daily care. Initiatives promoting the humanization of care, such as Bona Nit Vall d’Hebron, are also encouraged. Thanks to this cross-disciplinary vision and teamwork, the Critical Care Area ensures high-quality, patient-centered care.
Intensive Care Medicine
Paediatric Intensive Care
Immunological diseases are disorders in which the immune system does not function properly, either due to overactivity or deficiency. This imbalance can cause inappropriate responses to external agents or damage the body’s own tissues.
Immune System Diseases
There are immune system disorders caused by:
a) Loss of function: Primary immunodeficiencies, acquired immunodeficiencies.
b) Excess of function: Autoimmune diseases, in which the body, through an excessive exercise of its defenses, attacks itself due to the loss of a fundamental function: self-tolerance. This means that under normal conditions, a body’s own cell will never attack another of its own cells.
In the first case, immunodeficiencies are indicated by the repeated occurrence of infections, which is the key sign for detection. These can appear early in life due to a genetic alteration, in adulthood as a result of treatments for other diseases such as cancer, or can be acquired through viral infections, with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) being one of the most significant.
In the second case, autoimmune diseases are suggested by the appearance of inflammation without apparent cause in joints, lungs, kidneys, liver, or other organs.
Symptoms primarily depend on whether they are due to a loss of function (recurrent infections) or an excess of function (inflammatory disease affecting one or more organs).
Immune diseases can affect anyone throughout their life. In general, immunodeficiencies are more common in early childhood, while autoimmune diseases usually affect young adults, more frequently women.
The body’s defense capacity is assessed in two ways:
Basal state: in the patient’s ordinary condition.
After stimulation: the immune cells are stimulated in the laboratory to evaluate their function.
For autoimmune diseases, factors present in the blood are analyzed; elevated levels may indicate abnormal activity against the body itself.
Diagnostic evaluations include:a) Study of innate immunityb) Study of acquired immunityc) Study of the functional capacity of the immune systemd) Study of factors characterizing autoimmune disease
Assessing immune competence can be done in several ways:
Detection and counting of immune cells, specifically lymphocytes.
Laboratory stimulation of lymphocytes to test their functionality.
Analysis of blood or biopsy samples for factors causing self-attack, such as autoantibodies (defense proteins with abnormal self-aggressive function).
Study of elevated cellular messengers indicating the activity of these cells against the body.
Immunodeficiency: restoration of the immune system’s functional capacity.
Autoimmunity: modulation or inhibition of the immune system’s self-aggressive capacity.
Laboratory tests to assess immune system functionality are standard. Genetic tests are also used to assist in diagnosis.
In addition to general recommendations for a healthy diet, regular exercise, and abstaining from smoking, adherence to the childhood vaccination schedule is essential. Vaccinations not only protect against specific infections but also help improve overall immune defense.
The Ophthalmology Area at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital has a cross-cutting role, with activities both on the hospital campus and at Pere Virgili Hospital and in the Sant Montaña region. Organization by areas of expertise and the implementation of the strategic plan have improved efficiency and quality of care through the collection and analysis of clinical data.
Key projects include the follow-up of patients with cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which has facilitated benchmarking with other centers and driven process improvements. Training programs have also been developed, and SAP-based processes have been designed to digitize data and enhance coordination between ophthalmologists and nursing staff. Through this commitment to innovation and multidisciplinary collaboration, the area provides care focused on quality, safety, and patient empowerment.
Ophthalmology
The General Hospital offers all the medical specialities for adults, and has a proven track record. Patient care is comprehensive and essential in the process of identifying the causes of the disease and its treatment.
How to get there
The Vall d’Hebron General Hospital is a leading centre offering a wide range of highly complex medical and surgical services for the care of adult patients. It also plays a key role in the transition from paediatric to adult care, ensuring continuity of care for patients with chronic or complex conditions previously treated by the Vall d’Hebron Children’s Hospital. Such coordinated care ensures patients can progressively adapt to the adult services, improving their quality of life and long-term medical follow-up.
We are also a reference hospital for various accreditations. You can view them here.
The General Hospital Surgical Block is one of the most modern and technologically advanced facilities in Catalonia. It has state-of-the-art operating theatres that incorporate high-precision imaging systems, robotic technology and tools for minimally invasive surgery. These facilities enable the medical teams to perform highly complex procedures with maximum safety and efficiency, reducing patient recovery times and minimising postoperative risks. The Surgical Block also integrates digital systems that facilitate coordination between specialities and efficient resource management.
The General Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a pioneer in implementing the Smart ICU, a system that integrates connected medical devices and secondary use of data to improve the monitoring and treatment of critical patients. This innovation enables professionals to obtain real-time information on the patient’s status, optimise decision-making and personalise treatment to their clinical course. Thanks to this technology, complications associated with long ICU stays have been reduced and patient safety has been improved, favouring recovery and reducing hospitalisation times.
With the completion of the work on the Emergency Department, the General Hospital has concluded the roll-out of a new emergency care model based on speed and efficiency. The renovated facilities are designed to streamline patient flows, reduce waiting times and improve coordination between different departments. The space has new triage and observation areas, and technology to provide more structured and efficient care. This new model has transformed care for emergency patients, improving both the patient experience and healthcare professionals’ response capacity.
The General Hospital has implemented the One Step Ictus project, a pioneering initiative that optimises care for patients with ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke. The model concentrates the whole approach to stroke in a single direct-access room, in which diagnostic tests such as CT scans can be carried out, fibrinolytic treatments administered and, if necessary, endovascular interventions performed. This reorganisation shortens the time between the arrival of the patient and the start of treatment, improving prognosis and reducing neurological sequelae. One Step Ictus puts the General Hospital at the cutting edge of care for this pathology, offering patients the best possible healthcare response.
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