Hospital Clinic de Barcelona

Hospital Clínic de Barcelona is a large public, university-linked hospital in Barcelona and part of Catalonia’s SISCAT public hospital network. It operates under a public consortium model that connects the Government of Catalonia (through the Catalan Health Service) with the University of Barcelona, aligning clinical care with teaching and research. Patient care, scientific inquiry, and education are central to its mission, and the organisation works across all three areas to deliver excellence. The institution traces its modern beginnings to the early 20th century. Over time, it has expanded beyond its historical core into a broader organisational structure with multiple locations, including its leading Villarroel site and additional headquarters such as Plató and Maternitat, with some specialised activity delivered through partner-network sites. Operationally, the Clínic functions at high volume. In its published figures, it reports 7,051 professionals, alongside substantial annual activity, including 51,605 discharges and 31,124 surgical interventions. In its 2024 annual report, it reports 51,797 admissions, 642,596 outpatient visits, and 167,151 emergency cases—illustrating a significant workload across inpatient, ambulatory, and urgent care. A defining feature is advanced surgical and procedural specialization delivered at high volume, including 985 major cardiac surgeries, 225 bariatric (morbid obesity) surgeries, 106 functional neurosurgical procedures for Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, and 39 complex fetal surgeries in a single year of reporting. The institution also reports rapid growth in technology-enabled surgery, with 1,060 robot-assisted operations in 2024 versus 944 the prior year (a 12% increase), indicating both installed capability and sustained clinical adoption rather than isolated “showcase” use. Transplantation is positioned as a flagship domain with both organ and tissue programmes operating at scale. In 2024, the centre reported 317 transplants, including 191 kidney, 30 pancreas, 78 liver, and 18 heart transplants; it also reported 100 bone marrow transplants and 107 corneal transplants, plus the management of 57 organ donors, with a detailed breakdown across controlled and uncontrolled donation pathways. The liver programme is long-established, having surpassed 2,500 cumulative liver transplants, which signals multi-decade institutional experience rather than a newly built service line. In oncology and hematology, the institution differentiates itself through the development and delivery of academic CAR-T cell therapies under Spanish regulatory authorization. It reports having treated over 500 patients with its ARI CAR-T therapies and emphasizes that two academic CAR-T products have received approval from the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS), including ARI0002h for multiple myeloma; this combination of in-house development, regulatory clearance, and multi-hundred-patient treatment experience is unusual in Europe and indicates an integrated bench-to-bedside capability.