The Girona Health Region closed the 2022 2024 period with worse results at three months in stroke patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy than other Catalan areas and than the reference centers of Barcelona. The comparison included by Salut places Girona with 31.03% functional independence at three months and a mortality of 23.39%, below the records of Tarragona, Lleida and Central Catalonia, and also in a worse position than Barcelona hospitals such as Sant Pau and Hospital del Mar.
The data appear in a response from the Govern to a parliamentary question about the sequelae of stroke patients who cannot undergo this procedure in their territory. Although the question focused on Lleida, Tarragona and Central Catalonia, the response also includes Girona and leaves the Gerundense territory as the one that presents the worst figures both in functional recovery and in mortality.
Girona falls behind in recovery and mortality
In the case of Girona, functional independence at three months is equivalent to recovering with autonomy or with mild sequelae after the episode. That result was achieved in 31.03% of the Girona patients subjected to mechanical thrombectomy between 2022 and 2024.
In patients coming from Tarragona, Lleida and Central Catalonia, who are referred to tertiary hospitals in Barcelona, that indicator moves between 38% and 44%. In the reference hospitals of Barcelona, Sant Pau and Hospital del Mar, the records hover around 34% and 35%.
The difference also appears in mortality at three months. Girona registers 23.39%, while in Tarragona, Lleida and Catalunya Central the figures range between 15% and 20%. In Barcelona's reference centers, mortality stands at around 22%.
The debate on the derivations focused on Tarragona and Lleida
The lack of continuous coverage to perform thrombectomies in Lleida and Tarragona opened in recent months a political and health debate about referrals to Barcelona and the need to have a stable service during 24 hours. The Parliament urged the Government to reinforce this attention.
Salut announced that the Joan XXIII hospitals in Tarragona and Arnau de Vilanova in Lleida will offer the treatment for 12 hours daily starting this spring, with the forecast of reaching full coverage in 2027.
In Girona, in contrast, the Josep Trueta hospital provides interventional neuroradiology continuously. Furthermore, it was in 2021 the first public center outside Barcelona and its metropolitan area to offer this service permanently.
Salut defends the healthcare model
"No clinically relevant differences are identified" - Olga Pané, Councillor of Health
The councilor maintains that neither the territory of origin nor the fact of being referred explain by themselves the differences in the degree of functional sequelae or in mortality. In the same response, Pané defended the referral system by complexity towards reference centers.
"This set of results reinforces the suitability of the care model based on clinical criteria and on referral to reference centers according to complexity, guaranteeing equity and quality in stroke care" - Olga Pané, Minister of Health
The head of Salut also recalled that the evolution after a stroke depends on several factors. Among them, she cited the initial severity of the patient, the comorbidities, the selection of candidates for thrombectomy, rapid admission to a stroke unit, the availability of rehabilitation, and the therapeutic strategy applied in each center. With that framework, the comparison leaves on the table a paradox in Girona, which despite having continuous care at Trueta presents the worst results of the analyzed set.