SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona at full capacity after opening

The largest paediatric oncology centre in Spain and one of the largest in Europe, which launched in June in Barcelona, has already implemented its full range of care. Since the transfer of inpatient care, the average occupancy rate on the ward has been over 70% and around five patients per day have received care as part of the SJD At Home cancer patient care programme.

In terms of outpatient care, which has 21 outpatient rooms and 26 Day Hospital cubicles, the first quarter closed with a daily average of 27 treatment sessions and 40 laboratory tests in the Day Hospital area, which also receives patients at the weekend, at a volume similar to that prior to the opening of the centre. The new Day Hospital has also freed up the space previously used for the inpatients building, which can respond more quickly to other specialities (nephrology, allergy tests, immunology treatments, etc.).

The surgical block has two high-technology operating rooms. In the outpatient operating room, an average of six procedures per day have been performed. The second operating room will be opened in the first quarter of 2023, where complex, 3D-planned cancer surgery will be carried out.

SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona also has a dedicated rehabilitation space for patients from the centre, with materials adapted to their care needs, which not only allows more children and teenagers to be cared for at the same time, but also provides inpatient and outpatient care in the same place, where children can be cared for in a specific way depending on their condition and age group.

The centre also has an Oncology Pharmacy department specialising in dispensing prescriptions for cancer patients, which this autumn will be complemented by the opening of clean rooms that will enable the medication to be prepared directly at the centre and to work with a high degree of safety.

From January to September, the Oncology Area of the SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital has attend 223 patients diagnosed for the first time (known as debut cases) and 308 are new patients. The centre is currently caring for 465 patients.

Gradual opening of new facilities

SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona is almost fully up and running and is expected to reach maximum capacity in the first quarter of 2023. Since opening, six of the eight chambers of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit have been set up to respond to transplant patients. The dedicated Nuclear Medicine facility, which will occupy the ground floor of the centre, will also be opened, with a variety of diagnostic testing equipment and two lead-lined rooms for radionuclide treatments. This will mean that patients do not have to leave the centre to undergo tests or to receive specific treatment of this nature.

SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona will be completed with the opening of the new paediatric oncology laboratories, where care and research activities will be combined and where work is already under way. This new space, which is planned to open in the first quarter of 2023, condenses the new centre’s model of care, based on comprehensive patient care and the translation of research into clinical practice wherever possible.