Barcelona hospital cuts spinal surgery wait to under 24 hours

Since January 2024, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital has operated a dedicated team to treat patients with acute spinal cord injuries 365 days a year, ensuring continuous surgical care even at weekends, when a third of such accidents occur.

Since the team's launch, 84% of patients have undergone surgery within 24 hours of arriving at the hospital, and 72% within 24 hours of the accident itself.Previously, these figures were 56% and 47%, respectively.

Over the past two years, the hospital has treated 136 patients, 52 of whom received surgery on a holiday or weekend.

Vall d'Hebron University Hospital is the first in Spain to operate on acute spinal cord injury patients every day of the year with a highly specialized multidisciplinary team.

"It was totally necessary to respond to this unmet need in the healthcare system," said Maria José Abadías, Vall d'Hebron's medical director, during a press conference on Monday, reviewing the program two years after its launch.

Previously, if a patient arrived on a weekend, the on-call surgeon had to try to assemble a team for the operation.

Now, a team of eight spine surgery specialists – including two surgeons, two surgical nurses, an auxiliary nursing technician, an orderly, an anesthetist, and a neurophysiologist – is available 365 days a year to ensure operations are performed within 24 hours, when timing can be critical.

A rehabilitation specialist is also on duty to start therapy as early as possible, even in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Sports injuries and falls among older adults

Traumatic acute spinal injuries from traffic accidents have decreased in recent years, while injuries from sports – such as skiing, hiking, cycling, and diving – have risen. Falls among older adults remain common.

Over the past year, Vall d'Hebron treated 31 patients with spinal injuries from falls, 15 from traffic accidents, 28 from other sports-related incidents, and six from diving accidents.

Life after a skiing accident

Mercè suffered a spinal cord injury on the first day of her 2024 Christmas vacation while skiing in the Vall d'Aran, northern Catalonia, resulting in paraplegia.

She immediately lost feeling in her legs and feared a serious injury.

Speaking to the firefighters who rescued her – while her husband, also injured in the fall, was transported to the hospital – she said she did not want to die.

A helicopter transferred her to Vall d'Hebron, where she underwent surgery and felt well cared for throughout the process.

 "I had had an accident that would change my life, but I felt happy with all the people around me. It was a strange feeling, because I couldn't be truly happy, but I had doctors, nurses, orderlies, and, of course, my family by my side," she said.

After the operation, she began "a new and very different path."

"I had many life plans. I’m 56 and was starting to think about retirement, about trips we would take. We loved the mountains, and now things have changed, but we still love life very much. I think the way I have gotten here is thanks to everyone who has helped me," she said.