Bellvitge Hospital unveils 24 high-tech operating rooms for complex procedures

Bellvitge University Hospital near Barcelona proudly showed off on Friday 24 new operating rooms equipped with the latest technology that will be phased into use from Monday.

Made for highly complex operations, the new facilities make the hospital the only one in Spain with three hybrid operating rooms, equipped with scanners, and two robotic rooms. 

The new facilities mean that the number of surgeries carried out at the hospital will go from 16,617 in 2016, or from 20,574 last year, to an estimated 21,494 in 2020. 

The increase in the number of operations will allow the hospital to reduce waiting lists, especially for illnesses related to the spinal column, breast cancer, and morbid obesity.

 Over €130 million on surgical bloc

The high tech surgical bloc housing the operating rooms cost 82 million euros to build and another 50 million euros to equip, with 20 million euros going on equipment for them.

The presence of scanners in the rooms means patients will not have to be moved for tests, while the robotic equipment will let surgeons do more precise operations from a console.

Since 2009, Bellvitge has been a pioneer in the use of surgical robots, and the main systems installed in the rooms are mounted on the ceiling to minimize the risk of contamination.

The new surgical bloc is located on the third floor of the hospital's technosurgical building and connected to the main building via an internal corridor.

Upgrade on operating rooms from 1972

The latest surgical facilities replace Bellvitge's original operating rooms, which were opened when the hospital was inaugurated back in 1972. 

In fact, seven operating rooms in the new bloc have been in use since 2017, with the remaining 24 due to be phased into operation gradually over a period of time.

The new rooms and support rooms occupy an area of 8,000 m2, almost double the space dedicated to surgery up till now, with an average space of 50 m2 per surgeon.