The Girona region implements a new model of care for critical and semi-critical patients.

The Girona health region will implement a new model of care for critical and semi-critical patients, based on digital tools. The model will begin to be rolled out at the Palamós hospital and the Josep Trueta Hospital in Girona, which will host a pilot test.

Once the results have been analyzed, the model will be implemented in the remaining regional hospitals in the health region, such as those in Calella, Figueres, Olot, and Santa Caterina de Salt. The goal is for the model to be established in the rest of the region by 2027.

The model will allow patients to be treated closer to their homes and avoid transfers outside the health region.

With the model already deployed—named Critic.CAT—Trueta will expand its capacity by twelve new beds for critically ill patients, and a network of 36 beds for semi-critical patients will be created in the remaining hospitals.

This will increase the number of intensive care beds for critical patients from 26 to 38, and the number of semi-critical beds from 8 to 40. The new beds at the Trueta hospital will be located in the building that will house the expansion of the surgical block and oncohematology day hospital, currently under construction.

The idea is that by 2027 this care model will have been implemented throughout the region.

With this model, the Health Department aims to improve the provision of intensive care services throughout the country, utilizing digital tools that will facilitate decision-making, the efficiency of available resources, and the equity of the public system, the department explained today in a statement.

Critic.CAT will facilitate the transfer of information and knowledge among all stakeholders in the healthcare system involved in the care of critically and semi-critically ill patients, from the referral hospital to regional hospitals and the Emergency Medical System (SEM).

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The new model will help reduce the transfer of critically ill patients outside the health region. Currently, it is estimated that approximately 60 people are treated outside the province each year. It will also allow patients to be treated closer to their homes.

For example, once they are discharged from the Trueta ICU, they can continue their stay at their referral hospital, under the supervision of the Trueta intensive care team.