The Arnau de Vilanova hospital in Lleida will expand the mechanical thrombectomy service for severe strokes from June 1 and will begin to provide this care 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM. The agreement has been approved by the Generalitat's Executive Council and represents a significant reinforcement in a service that until now only operated five hours a day, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and only on weekdays.
The expansion affects a key treatment for severe stroke cases in the province of Lleida, which are concentrated in Arnau de Vilanova. When the unit is not operational, patients are referred to Vall d"Hebron hospital in Barcelona, which has a permanent on-call service in interventional neuroradiology.
More hours of coverage in Lleida
With this change, the Arnau de Vilanova service will go from 1,482 annual hours to 4,380 hours. The Government's forecast is to complete the expansion to 24 hours a day in 2027, when coverage would reach 8,760 hours a year.
"All hours of the day" - Sílvia Paneque, spokesperson of the Government
The spokesperson for the Govern placed that total coverage in 2027. For her part, the Minister of Health, Olga Pané, has indicated that work is already underway to extend the service to 24 hours every day throughout the next year, although she has also placed that total expansion as possible in the third quarter of 2027. The political commitment set by the Govern places it in the third four-month period of that same year.
Pané has explained that this advance will be possible because the training of the necessary specialists has already been completed. It is a demanding preparation, as it requires 18 months of experience and having intervened in more than 100 cases under supervision. The professionals who will allow the expansion have been trained at Vall d"Hebron and will join Lleida, although they will remain linked to the team of the Barcelona hospital.
"The annual working hours of each ICS professional is 1,640 hours, which is why this leap requires two more professionals" - Olga Pané, Councillor of Health
Between 60 and 65 severe strokes per year in the demarcation
The Arnau de Vilanova treats severe strokes during limited hours since 2019 and receives between 60 and 65 severe cases each year. The rest of the strokes, about 540 annually, will continue to be treated at the same hospital. Last year, the center performed 25 thrombectomies, while 53 patients from Lleida had to be referred to Barcelona. In 2024, 20 thrombectomies were performed in Lleida and 31 cases were transferred.
The data provided by Health maintain that referral to tertiary centers does not worsen clinical outcomes. In a parliamentary response, Pané defended that these transfers offer results aligned with care standards.
Between 2022 and 2024, between 38% and 44% of patients referred from Lleida, Tarragona and Manresa achieved functional independence or presented mild sequelae at three months. Mortality in those cases stood between 15% and 20%.
In Girona, treated patients register a 31.03% functional independence and a mortality of 23.39%. In Barcelona centers that mostly attend to local patients, functional independence moves between 34% and 35%, with a mortality of 22%.
In the specific case of Lleida, in 2023 mortality was 18.18% among patients treated at Arnau de Vilanova and 20% among those referred to Barcelona. Functional independence was 31.82% in those attended in Lleida and 31.43% in those transferred.
Tarragona also expands attention
The healthcare reorganization announced by the Government is not limited to Lleida. The Joan XXIII hospital in Tarragona will also expand care for severe strokes to 12 hours daily throughout the year. In this case, the entry into force has been set for this very month.
For Tarragona, the official forecast is to reach 24-hour coverage by the end of 2027. With this timetable, the Generalitat seeks to reinforce specialized care outside Barcelona and reduce the time slots in which patients must be transferred to tertiary centers, although for now referrals will continue to be part of the care circuit when the units are not fully operational.