Bellvitge receives the highest European accreditation for the comprehensive treatment of cancer patients.
Until now, in Catalonia, only Vall d'Hebron held this recognition, and in Spain only one private clinic has it.
BarcelonaThe Organization of European Cancer Institutes (OECI) has accredited the Bellvitge Health Campus as a Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC), the highest European distinction in comprehensive cancer treatment. Until now, Vall d'Hebron was the only Catalan hospital to hold this seal, which only 44 centers in Europe hold. This seal sets the treatment standards to be followed by 2030. Bellvitge's service radius of two million people makes it the largest University CCC in Spain and the first formed by three public entities—the ICO and the ICO.
In the spring, the Bellvitge Health Campus underwent an audit by the OECI, an international non-profit network that promotes maximum standards in cancer care, research, and teaching, and establishes minimum quality standards for treatment and research at the European level. The audit certified that these standards are followed at the ICO, the University Hospital, and IDIBELL, with comprehensive care as its main premise.
Of the 44 European centers recognized as CCCs, only Vall d'Hebron and, now, Bellvitge are recognized in Catalonia. In the rest of Spain, only one private clinic has the distinction: the Cancer Center Clínica Universidad de Navarra. In other countries, leading European oncology institutions such as the Gustave Roussy in France, the Swedish Karolinska Institute, and the German Charité Comprehensive Cancer Center have received this distinction.
"With the European distinction we are now receiving, we are highlighting the work that has been carried out in a coordinated manner for a long time and in a natural way by all our professionals, from researchers to doctors and nurses," said Gabriel Capellà, director of IDIBELL, in statements to ACN. In this regard, the director general of the ICO, Joan Brunet, recalls that in 1995 the oncology hospital "was founded with the vision of a Comprehensive Cancer Center, a nomenclature that didn't exist, but [the idea] was already intrinsically considered a working model and is now recognized."
The manager of the Bellvitge University Hospital, Cristina Capdevila, specifies that the facility she heads "is not specialized" in oncological treatment, as the ICO is, but asserts that they are a leading hospital in this field. She recalls that 50% of the research and daily activity at the Bellvitge University Hospital is dedicated to cancer, and emphasizes that they are the most complex center for robotic surgery in all of Spain. "This gives us experience that allows us to achieve better results and conduct research that is available to patients so they receive the best possible treatments," she maintains.
Attention to 50% of Catalans
From IDIBELL, Capellà explains that this high level of hospital activity in the various manifestations of cancer "generates a fundamental foundation" for promoting research into prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and understanding of the disease. Capellà emphasizes that "it also allows for the development of new therapies and the evaluation of how internal organization impacts patient care and recovery." In fact, he insists, it is the professionals who travel to ensure multidisciplinary treatment "without the patient having to go up and down the ladder."
Those responsible for the Bellvitge Health Campus point out that the European Plan to Fight Cancer states that by 2030, 90% of the population undergoing cancer treatment should have access to a Comprehensive Cancer Center. This forward-looking approach highlights the importance of advancing prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and improving the quality of life of patients and survivors.
In the case of Bellvitge, coverage is provided to two million people in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and the Penedès region, as well as some patients with certain pathologies in Camp de Tarragona and Terres de l'Ebre. Brunet, head of the ICO, highlights that the CCC accreditation endorses the care provided at Bellvitge "to more than 50% of the population of Catalonia" and says it paves the way for a European public accreditation to be available in a few years to certify the quality of comprehensive care for the remaining 50% thanks to networking.
More than 1,500 professionals work in the three centers that make up the Bellvitge Health Campus, performing more than 5,000 complex oncological surgeries annually. In the field of research, more than 640 scientific publications have been published in the last year and 594 clinical trials have been actively worked on.
