The Sant Joan de Reus University Hospital is now part of the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes, the OECI, through the Catalunya Sud Cancer Center, the shared project with IRB CatSud and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. The accreditation places Reus among the validated European centers in oncology after a process of more than two years.
The seal has a singular weight in Catalonia because it makes Sant Joan the first accredited center outside the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Until now, only Vall d'Hebron and the Institut Català d'Oncologia, both in the Barcelona area, had that recognition.
The OECI Validated 345 Criteria After More Than Two Years of Evaluation
The accreditation required overcoming 345 international quality criteria in clinical assistance, biomedical research, and teaching. The process culminated in an in-person international audit conducted in May 2025.
The health structure linked to the project serves approximately 800,000 inhabitants in the demarcation of Tarragona and registers more than 2,700 new cancer cases per year. The recognition therefore extends to a care network that goes beyond the Reus hospital and projects over the whole of southern Catalonia.
During the presentation of the seal, the director of the Institut d'Oncologia de la Catalunya Sud, Josep Gumà, linked the accreditation to a change in patient care.
"For us it is important to detect personal situations. For example, a patient with young children. Who takes these children to school the day the person is undergoing chemotherapy or is admitted? The care perspective has changed" - Josep Gumà, director of the Institut d'Oncologia de la Catalunya Sud
Gumà also maintained that recognition can open the door to more advanced trials. He explained that, when a center accredits a solid clinical research unit, pharmaceutical companies offer drugs in study that could take three or four years to reach the market.
The seal opens the door to phase I studies at Sant Joan
That is one of the most concrete changes the center expects. Recognition will facilitate the arrival of phase I clinical studies, in addition to reinforcing the hospital's position in phases II and III.
Joan Vendrell, director of IRB Catalunya Sud, framed the accreditation as the start of a new phase and confirmed the future construction of a Clinical Research Unit at Sant Joan. The facility will include rooms for phase I, II, and III studies, outpatient clinics, and a research MRI.
From the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Fàtima Sabench, defended that the international distinction will serve to retain talent and reinforce more competitive and international research. She also linked it to the joint weight of the hospital, the university, and the research groups.
Gumà also placed the project's effect in the long term and related it to the training of specialists. He recalled that having good students and good MIR residents later has an impact on the quality of oncologists.
The candidacy was led by nurse Berta Caballé and the OECI communicated the official confirmation in March of this year, with a validity of five years.