The new Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona, one of the most important and innovative centers specializing in children’s oncology at international level

Thanks to the efforts of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, the contribution of the founding donors and the Catalan, Spanish and international solidarity, the SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona is now a reality.

This recently opened monographic center for children and adolescents with cancer and their families has 14,000 square meters and is connected to the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital by means of an elevated covered gallery. It is distributed over five floors, with 70% of the space for medical care and 30% for research. In total there are 37 single rooms, 8 transplant chambers, 26 boxes for the day hospital and 21 outpatient clinics.

In addition, it has a professional team of more than 150 people, which will make it possible to consolidate the model of research, assistance and care for childhood cancer at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. This model, developed by the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona for more than 15 years and unique in Europe, is based on the premise that the biology of childhood cancer and adult cancer is different and, therefore, the treatments for adults are not the same as those for children.

SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona has a Molecular Oncology Laboratory specialized in the genetic characterization of solid tumors, which allows us to offer patients a more personalized and appropriate treatment according to the genetic alterations of their tumor.

It is undeniable that the construction of the SJD Paediatric Cancer Center Barcelona is a major milestone, both for the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and for national and international paediatric oncology medicine.

It has been a matter of effort and perseverance that it has been possible to make this a reality. The Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona was founded in the 19th century and since then it has not stopped working for and with its patients. This hospital is currently one of the most important in Europe in the specialities of paediatric and maternal-fetal medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology.

SJD is the hospital center in Spain where most children and young people are treated and the hospital of reference in its immediate geographical area. All of this means that women, children and adolescents with complex ailments from Catalonia, the rest of the country and abroad come to this hospital.

The team at the hospital is well aware of this. They know that dealing with children and their families requires patience, tenderness, empathy and understanding. They love their work and are guided by a vocation for service and improvement. This is the only way to carry out a task that is sometimes so complicated.

The desire to heal and care of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona has always wanted to go further. More humane facilities, closer service if possible, constant research and being better and better professionals, are just some examples.

The professionals at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona believe in collaboration and teamwork. Active listening, communication and interaction at all levels allow them to optimize their resources and services.

For this reason, the Innovation and Research Department has opted to involve hospital professionals in innovation projects and teams, thus breaking the traditional hierarchy and involving patients and their families from the very beginning. They have integrated patients and their families in the design and monitoring of new projects and care plans, as well as in the teamwork training carried out in the simulation unit.

They have also digitalized their services by offering telemedicine in collaboration with Teladoc Health. In addition, as of 2021, they are the first hospital in Spain to have a state-of-the-art control center to regulate patient flow. This control center, called Córtex, makes it possible to evaluate in real time key data on the center’s operation and to decide what measures to take to improve the management of resources and beds. The system also includes a patient monitoring system (eCare) focused, until now, on patients admitted to the hospital with cardiological problems, and a multichannel communication space with patients’ families, called Contact Center.

They have created together with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – UPC) the biotech start-up Cebiotex. They are partners of the Ephion Health platform to develop and implement clinical measures for patient mobility. They participate in the Gazelab project, which is a medical glasses device, equipped with two cameras with infrared vision and image recognition and eye tracking software, which allows recording eye movements with high precision. Y también coordinan el Hub de Innovación Pediátrica i4KIDS, cuyo reto es identificar y apoyar aquellos proyectos de innovación, dentro del ámbito de la pediatría y la maternidad, que destaquen por su capacidad de generar un cambio en la sociedad y en el cuidado de los niños.

The results of this paradigm shift, both in the way it operates and in the way it understands healthcare, have been tangible with the creation of four new companies (3 spin-offs and 1 start-up), the approval of 36 of the 48 patents applied for, 180 potential projects analyzed in depth, 56 active projects, 4 new utility models and 8 licenses.

In 2013 the International Management was created with the threefold objective of:

1) promote and position the hospital internationally.

2) to strengthen links with other hospitals at the international level

3) to offer services to patients from all over the world.

In order to achieve these objectives, the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona has a team of forty professionals, of different nationalities or with knowledge of several languages. In addition to Spanish and Catalan, English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic and French can be heard in our corridors.

The pediatric specialties that are most in demand internationally, and for which the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona is a reference, are pediatric oncology, neurosciences (neurology and neurosurgery), fetal surgery, orthopedic surgery and ophthalmology.

The Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona was created on December 14, 1867 in Muntaner Street in Barcelona thanks to the Hospitaller Order San Juan de Dios, being then the first children’s hospital in Spain. It treated mainly children with tuberculosis and other congenital malformations of the locomotor system.

In 1881, the Hospital moved to land located between what is now Diagonal Avenue and Déu i Mata Street. It remained there for almost a century, until 1973, when the current hospital was inaugurated in Esplugues de Llobregat.

If you want to know more about Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona and its work as an international reference hospital , contact us!