A pilot project in Baix Llobregat will promote the transformation of integrated social and health care

The candidacy of the Integrated Health Area (AIS) Baix Llobregat Litoral and Sant Boi – Baix Llobregat Nord has been chosen by the Department of Health as the best pilot experience of the new healthcare distribution. This project, in which the SJD Health Park guarantees the programs of continuum of care and access, quality and equity of hospital services in coordination with the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Martorell, proposes a change in the model of care for citizens where co-responsibility between services and institutions is the basis of care. Integrated health areas are a new way of organizing health services in the territory to promote better coordination of local resources, with the community health and primary care as the main axis, and also with social services, local administrations and community entities.

The selected proposal is fully oriented towards the needs of citizens and aims to put an end to the current fragmentation between the different healthcare services and, at the same time, break with the existing inequalities in the territory.

This is one of nine complete projects, which deploys proposals related to the four strategic programs for the Department of Health: the territorial community health; integrated home care; the healthcare continuum and the guarantee of access, quality and equity of hospital services.

• In territorial community health, which is done together, taking into account the environment and the community, the model proposes deploying an integrated social and health territorial corridor with the aim of connecting municipalities, resources and good practices to act in an integrated manner.
• In the field ofhome care, the project focuses on strengthening care for people with complex chronic conditions, fragility, dependency or advanced illness, with care at home 24 hours a day/7 days a week, through integrated care circuits between primary, hospital, intermediate care and social services.
• In reference to the care continuum, the monitoring of care for a person over time and between different health services, the proposal foresees the coordinated deployment of the program, with the participation of primary care teams and the two reference hospitals, the SJD Sant Boi Hospital and the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Martorell.
• Finally, in the field of guarantee of access, quality and equity of hospital services, the candidacy places operational integration between the two reference hospitals as a central axis, with actions to improve accessibility, reduce waiting lists, expand the portfolio of specialties and be more decisive in the territory.

What will change for citizens?

The proposed model translates into concrete improvements in people's daily lives, with more connected and resolute services:

• More home care: The work coordinated by the different city councils will allow elderly people or people with chronic illnesses to be cared for at home with coordinated teams, avoiding unnecessary admissions.
• Fewer trips and fewer duplications: The services will share information and coordinate visits, avoiding repeated tests and unnecessary travel outside the territory.
• Better monitoring of complex cases: Social and health integration will allow for the definition of clearer circuits, unique therapeutic plans and the assignment of reference professionals for each person.
• Faster and more appropriate response: each need will be resolved at the most appropriate level of care, at the most appropriate time and place, and with the most appropriate team.

"Thanks to the new AIS, an elderly person with various illnesses will be able to be cared for at home by an integrated social and health team, made up of primary care, hospital and social services professionals from the corresponding city council," predicts Dr. Luis Lores, director of the SJD Sant Boi Hospital.

More services, more capacity and better coordination to serve 340,000 people

Specifically, at the SJD Sant Boi Hospital the proposal will result in the expansion of the service portfolio through the incorporation of new specialties; the increase in the resolution of complex cases; and the strategic alliance with the Sant Joan de Déu Martorell Children's Hospital to improve territorial equity. “The proposed model represents progress at all levels, both in the purely healthcare field and in patient care, and positions us as a key player in guaranteeing more equitable, close and quality care for citizens,” says Dr. Luis Lores.

The project does not start from scratch. In coordination with primary care, initiatives are already being developed that anticipate this model, such as 7×24 home care programs, case management, and coordination experiences between centers, such as the Imaging Diagnostic Service.

The new territory will provide coverage to 340,000 people, with diverse realities and social and health inequalities, which will require integrated responses adapted to each municipality.

22 areas launch the new health system map

Up to a total of 22 areas have presented new projects for community health, home care and collaboration with hospital services with the aim of advancing the development of the new map of the Catalan health system, which follows the model being developed in Europe, and which aims to adapt the system to current needs: aging, chronicity and social inequalities. According to the Department of Health, the providers of the 22 AIS that have presented projects provide coverage to almost 80% of the population of Catalonia.

These programs will be deployed as pilot tests starting in January 2027 and will do so through the implementation of new governance formulas, professional organization, financing and evaluation of health outcomes at a territorial scale.