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Presentation
SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2017. Founded on 14 December 1867 in Calle Muntaner de Barcelona by the Orden Hospitalaria San Juan de Dios (the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God), it was the first children's hospital in Spain.
It mostly treated children with tuberculosis and other congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system.
In 1881, the Hospital moved to a plot of land between the current Avenida Diagonal and Calle Déu i Mata. It remained in this location until 1973 when the current hospital was opened in Esplugues de Llobregat.
The main achievements of our Hospital have been:
- Its founding in 1867.
- Its transformation from charitable organisation to a state sponsored centre in 1973.
- Its transformation into a university hospital in 1975.
- Its incorporation into the public health system in 1985.
- Its recognition as a teaching hospital in 1992.
- The start of its integration with Hospital Clinic in 1993.
In 2005, the strategic program Paidhos 2004 - 2008 was implemented and in 2013 it became an internationally recognised hospital.
Currently, SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital is one of the principal reference points inside and outside of Catalonia in Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and in highly specialised areas such as Neuroscience, Neonatology, Oncology and Heart Surgery.
Every year, it attends to more than 120,000 emergencies, 25,000 admissions and 200,000 visits, combining state of the art technology with personalised care based on its principles of hospitality and solidarity.
The first children's hospital in Spain
Founded on December 14, 1867 in Calle Muntaner de Barcelona by the Orden Hospitalaria San Juan de Dios (the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God), it was the first children's hospital in Spain. It was also the first Hospitaller Order of St. John of God reopened after the Mendizábal seizure of church property, which was the beginning of the restoration of the order in Spain.
When the hospital opened in Calle Muntaner, it had 6 children admitted and a community of three brothers. In four years, the number of hospitalised patients reached 50. It mostly treated children with tuberculosis and other congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system.
It soon became clear that the location was inappropriate, since it was surrounded by dwellings, factories and workshops, which disturbed the required rest of the children in the hospital
The move to Avenida Diagonal
In 1881, SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital moved to a plot of land between the current Avenida Diagonal and Calle Déu i Mata. Initially, the hospital attended to 105 patients, basically scrofulous and rachitic children. With contributions from the civil society of the time, the size of the hospital gradually increased and by 1908 it held 250 hospitalised children.
The range of illnesses treated also expanded including dermatological disorders, especially tinea and blindness. Traumatology treatments were subsequently added, with the possibility of surgery for bone lengthening or tendon insertion and transplants, the use of artificial tendons and bone grafts, all very advanced for the time.
At the beginning of the 20th century the brothers of the hospitaller order had the objective of being able to offer a complement that was then considered essential in the treatment of certain illnesses: sea balneotherapy. In 1924 this objective was made reality with the opening of the Calafell sanatorium. This was thanks to the donations and money that Barcelona City Council gave to the Order for the compulsory expropriation of a part of the Diagonal site.
In 1929 outpatient care commenced, above all for patients with traumatological pathologies, but also to treat tinea and odontological problems.
Ambulatory and acute care was started
In 1950, the outpatient treatment installations were increased and new specialist fields were added, such as paediatrics, cardiology, surgery and psychiatry.
With the formation of the professional paediatric and infant surgery teams, it was possible to extend care to patients with acute problems involving diarrhoea, dehydration, bronchopneumonia, nephrosis, dystrophies, etc., and the A&E department was opened. Shortly thereafter, new specialists, such as neuro paediatricians, were recruited.
In the sixties, the management of SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital began to plan the updating and refitting of the hospital to meet the new needs of society.
It was decided to make the hospital in Avenida Diagonal a maternity and children's hospital, with obstetric care for women and paediatric care for children up to 18 years of age. It was then considered necessary to change location, since the Diagonal site was limited in terms of size, but it was worth a lot of money and therefore selling the site could finance the construction of a new and much bigger hospital.
The new hospital in Esplugues de Llobregat
When choosing the part of Barcelona in which to establish the new hospital, the coverage provided by other hospitals was analysed, and it was decided there was an area with insufficient paediatric healthcare coverage: south-east Barcelona and its county. The most ideal location was on land belonging to the electric company FECSA in the neighbourhood of Finestrelles in Esplugues de Llobregat. The current hospital was built there in 1970.
In its first year of operation, in 1973, the hospital attended 2,100 births, 122,000 outpatient consultations, 15,000 patients admitted and 38,000 emergencies. The news of the time announced the hospital's inauguration.
In 1985, in the middle of the economic crisis, the Hospital entered the public health hospital system (XHUP). However, due to financial problems, the hospital had to reduce its workforce.
The gradual integration into the XHUP and also the University of Barcelona, in addition to its alliance with Hospital Clinic, contributed to the expansion of the hospital during the nineties and beginning of the 21st century.
In 2004, the PAIDHOS 2004-2008 program was implemented which positioned the hospital as a tertiary hospital.
The crisis of 2008 resulted in a public health budget cut of 15%, which affected all public or aligned hospitals. SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital had to cut salaries, the number of professionals and the number of beds in order to face up to that difficult situation.
A hospital of international renown
In 2013, it was decided to implement a strategic reorientation based on becoming a reference point and internationalisation, above all with respect to paediatric specialities such as heart surgery, neurosurgery, oncology and haematology, orthopaedic surgery, foetal and neonatal medicines and rare diseases.
SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital is currently one of the principal reference points inside and outside of Catalonia for paediatric care.
Every year, it attends to more than 120,000 emergencies, 25,000 admissions and 200,000 visits, combining state of the art technology with personalised care based on its principles of hospitality and solidarity.