The centenary institution Nou Hospital Evangèlic has launched the construction of an intermediate care center that will cover the care deficit in the neighborhoods of Sant Martí and Ciutat Vella and support Primary Care and Hospital del Mar. It will do so with an investment of 17 million euros, which has financing from the Institut Català de Finances (ICF), in its commitment to promote projects that have a positive impact on society.
The construction of the hospital center in this Poblenou location, specifically, at the confluence of Sancho de Ávila and Ciutat de Granada streets, in the heart of the super-block, implies the relocation and closure of the current health center that the institution has had since 1893 on Camèlies street, in the Gràcia neighborhood. Since 2007, after a remodeling and the creation of a new board of trustees, the hospital operates as a socio-health center concerted with the Generalitat, with a capacity of 116 beds and annually provides coverage to some 1,400 hospitalized patients.
The new hospital will occupy 10,000 square meters and will have 190 beds for elderly people who need specialized geriatric care. It will also have 25 Day Hospital places and a ground floor space to provide outpatient care to particularly fragile and complex patients. The private foundation will reserve a floor for a primary care emergency center.
The center will be mainly intended for people with complex chronic pathologies, intensive rehabilitation needs, continuous clinical control, neurological and psychogeriatric needs or end-of-life accompaniment.
The PMMT Arquitectura studio has designed the building project, which will respect one of the facades of the old bus depots that TMB had in Poblenou. The designers have worked especially on the humanization of the spaces. "There are many objectives to achieve: implement a flexible design thought for the different needs of patients, prepare the facility for possible future pandemics, choose and invest in the appropriate technology for future growth, and maintain efficient energy consumption. However, we must not forget that one of the main challenges will be the hiring of professionals in a context of structural shortage of nurses and doctors," explains Reyes Gualda, the hospital's manager.
The project, which was conceived during the previous term of the Barcelona City Council and which aligns with the Generalitat's healthcare planning, should be completed in the first half of 2023 and will allow the Teixidores de Gràcia School, currently operating in temporary buildings on Encarnació Street, to be installed in the current location. The institution and the administrations reached an agreement in 2016, whereby the Barcelona City Council purchased the hospital center through an expropriation process for nearly nine million euros and has ceded the Poblenou land for 50 years for the new building.