Vall d'Hebron officially becomes a member of a strategic alliance formed by the most relevant university hospitals in Europe

The inclusion by the Department of Health of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in the European University Hospital Alliance (EUHA) is official today. The Government approved it last Tuesday and today the Alliance itself ratifies it in its assembly.

The EUHA is a strategic alliance of nine hospitals that was founded in 2017, promoted by the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. In addition to these two centers, the following are part of the EUHA: the Assistance Publique - Hòpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (France), the Charité Universitatsmedizin in Berlin (Germany), the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam (Holland), the Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan (Italy), King's Health Partners from London (UK), UZ Leuven in Leuven (Belgium) and AKH Wien & MedUni Wien in Vienna (Austria).

Each of the members is a leading university hospital within their country with a capacity of more than 1,000 beds that offer the most advanced and specialized healthcare in most clinical specialties. They are national reference places and, together, they reach 100% of the existing European Reference Networks (ERN). In addition, all members of the Alliance have centers of excellence in research and are associated with a university. Research, education and innovation and knowledge transfer occupy a central place in its present and future strategy.

The general objective of its members is to play an active role in shaping the future of healthcare for the European Union, sharing best practices for the benefit of the patient and maximizing efforts to promote high-quality research. One of the tools to achieve this will be the creation of a network of sustainable health ecosystems in Europe that achieve the best possible quality of care with the available resources. However, the Alliance allows widening opportunities for researchers, clinicians and other workers to gain experience in other European university hospitals and to develop professional networks.

From an opportunity and strategy point of view, the participation of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital of the Institut Català de la Salut in this international association will make it possible to work together with the best university hospitals in Europe and achieve the objective of learning and sharing good practices in different areas (management, assistance, teaching, research), and at the same time it will also allow the establishment of relevant collaborations and synergies with high added value in Europe. Thus, the positioning of the center as one of the leading European university hospitals in the European biomedical ecosystem is strengthened, with the capacity to influence within this environment.

The Regional Minister for Health, Alba Vergés, values ​​that the incorporation of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital into the main strategic alliance of hospitals at a European level “not only highlights and certifies the high level of excellence of this health center, but also positions to the Catalan Health System as a reference model among the best health systems in Europe”. “Being part of this alliance will allow us to strengthen international relations with our European counterparts but, mainly, to share experiences and good practices that become an improvement in the health of our citizens”, emphasizes Vergés before adding that in some moments of health emergency such as the current ones, and in the midst of a pandemic with global affectations, collaborations between hospital centers “are not only strategic but essential: the EUHA is the alliance of maximum excellence where to debate and configure the future of European health systems”.

“The Vall d'Hebron University Hospital leads the Research and Innovation pillar within the EUHA, a fact that strategically positions us to be able to contribute to decision-making in health policies and the financing of health research at the European level through dialogue directly with the European Commission”, affirms Dr. Albert Salazar, manager of Vall d'Hebron.

In this sense, and with the vocation of being an active part of the European strategic health agenda, the EUHA is already working to conceptualize a white paper of strategies based on health data to empower patients and promote the principles of RRI (responsible research and innovation) in health organizations, in the future of ERNs in Europe, in the conceptualization of a European Health Data Space, in the promotion of advanced therapies in Europe and especially in the design of systemic solutions that stimulate the transformation of health ecosystems to respond in an effective way to the new global challenges that society is facing.