- Investment of 140 million euros in the Vinalopó Health Department in infrastructures, equipment and technology
- 13 years with delays below the average for public hospitals and benchmark specialities
- Vinalopó is the only department in the Valencian Community with the Joint Commission International accreditation and the first in Spain with the certification of the Cardiac Surgery service.
The Vinalopó health department, managed by the Ribera health group, celebrates its thirteenth anniversary since it was founded on 1 June 2010. Thirteen years of tireless work that has set a fixed roadmap: to offer excellent care of the highest quality to the department’s patients.
With this in mind, the centre’s management is working on a Strategic Plan for the Health Department that will be developed over the next few years and shows Ribera’s commitment to different lines of work: mental health, primary care, the heart area and waiting lists.
In a context in which mental health plays a fundamental role in the prevention of complex illnesses, Vinalopó has included this speciality in its roadmap with a comprehensive care plan that includes a commitment to super-specialised units to offer a more personalised response to the patient.
On the other hand, the manager Rafael Carrasco, has highlighted the commitment to develop a specific plan to attract talent, designed at national level with the People Management of Ribera, and especially aimed at primary care professionals, given the difficult time that this speciality is going through at national level due to the shortage of doctors. “Primary care comes first” is the slogan of this campaign, which aims to strengthen health centres and offer a more immediate response to patients. In this sense, Ribera also has innovative care formulas in the primary care area, such as the chronic care plan, artificial intelligence, YOsalud and the Shared Demand Management Plan, which enable it to improve response times and delays.
As for the heart area, the strategic plan includes a review of emergency care in the southern area of Alicante and even in the province. “Elche has gained in coronary care but we can still improve. We have to work to guarantee the best care for our patients,” explained Rafael Carrasco.
13 years at the forefront of Valencian health care
The Vinalopó University Hospital and its network of health centres have become one of the best health centres in the region in terms of quality of care and accessibility. This has been thanks to the strong investment that the group has allocated to the Department since its inception. Ribera has already invested around 140 million euros in technology, infrastructure, human resources and other healthcare and humanisation projects in these first 13 years. In 2023 alone, the hospital has incorporated a SPECT-CT scanner in the Nuclear Medicine area, a technology not available in other centres and which places the service at the forefront of cutting-edge technology.
In terms of healthcare quality, it is worth remembering that Vinalopó was the first centre in Spain and the second in Europe to achieve Joint Commission International certification for the Cardiac Surgery service. It is also the only health department in the Valencian Community with all its primary care centres and hospital accredited globally by this prestigious accrediting body.
“We are proud to celebrate thirteen years with these certifications. We have ratified the guarantee and excellence that we provide to our patients by complying with the most demanding international standards of quality and safety,” says Dr. Rafael Carrasco, manager of the department.
The hospital and health centres work every day to maintain excellence in care indicators. In this respect, waiting times remain below the average for public hospitals. In addition, it should be noted that the hospital is part of transversal projects at national level, such as the corporate Breast Unit or the Ribera Heart Area.
On a social level, Vinalopó has consolidated its position as a responsible organisation with initiatives such as Patient Council meetings, dissemination projects, volunteering activities and other actions related to sustainability and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030.
Dr. Carrasco insisted on the importance of placing the patient at the centre of all decisions, always thinking of offering the best care. In this regard, he recalled that the Vinalopó University Hospital has a wide range of services and reference specialities such as Cardiac Surgery, Nuclear Medicine, Haemodynamics, Thoracic Surgery and Vascular Surgery, among others. As well as reference units such as the delivery area that women from all over the province choose to bring their babies into the world.
In terms of the humanisation of healthcare, Vinalopó is a hospital with an innovative vocation, being one of the few centres in Spain to have a protocol for visiting pets for long-stay patients, as well as a plan for severe or serious functional diversity that guarantees universal accessibility in healthcare, improving the experience of patients and their quality of life.
Excellent results
The management team of the centre has presented the balance of activity of these 13 years of activity.
- Interventions: 204,842
- No-admission surgery rate: 70%.
- First consultations: 1.349.967
- Subsequent consultations: 3.924.026
- Births: 19,398
- Evidence:
- Radiological: 2,303,638
- PET-TAC: 45,612
- Anatomical Pathology: 272,823
- Hospital emergencies: 1.109.318
- Hospital emergencies + health centres: 1,736,318
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