On November 29^th of 2010, after 42 years of activity on its installations in the valencian neighborhood of Campanar, La Fe begun its relocation to a new building situated in the south zone of Valencia city (106, Avinguda de Fernando Abril Martorell).

 

This relocation constituted one of the most extent and complex logistical operations made in the Spanish sanitary field so far due to the large size of its installations, its staff and the number of patients that had to be transferred. The fact of being a reference center in and out the Comunitat Valenciana also supposed complexity to this relocation.

 

Another complex aspect was that the same day all the patients were being transferred, the services of Pediatrics, Maternal and Adults Emergencies were moved and they were open to the public in their new installations without paying attention to the new patients who arrived to the two hospitals. This aspect also supposed a big effort of planning, communication with patients and dedication on the part of the sanitary staff.

 

The transfer was carried out progressively from lower to higher complexityin order to guarantee its correct implementation and the security of all the patients during the whole process. Following this procedure, the ambulatory area was the first one in being transferred to the building of Bulevar Sur where on November 29^th of 2010 the activity of the first external consultations begun (Allergies, Dermatology, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases).

 

The next crucial stage occurred during the transfer of the area of hospitalization, the largest and most difficult so far, arranged in two successive Sundays.

Thus, on Sunday 13^th February of 2011, took place the move of the area maternal and child health and the next Sunday, on 20^th February, the area of adult hospitalization.

 

In total, between those two days, 250 patients were moved in ambulances from La Fe Campanar to Bulevar Sur throughout the seven kilometers of distance that separate both hospitals. Among these patients, 81 were children and premature babies, 11 pregnant women or new moms and 158 adults.

 

It is noteworthy the complexity of the transfer of patients from intensive and critic cares like the case of a baby with a weight of just 840 grammes. Thus, 29 were newborn patients, 9 children from the unity of Intensive Cares and 40 adults from Intensive Cares or Reanimation.

 

In both cases, the planning and collaboration of the sanitary staff was exceptional and it ensured finishing without incidents in a period of eight hours, earlier than expected.

 

Besides, the same day of the transfer of the Maternal and Child Health area, the new hospital registered the first birth of its history, a baby of five kilos named Mateo.

The logistics operations supposed a high level of coordination among the different implicated institutions: Conselleria de Sanitat, Centro de Información y Coordinación de Emergencias as well as the City Council of Valencia, which enabled a specific lane in the city, reserved by the police for the route of the forty ambulances used.

 

THE TRANSFER IN NUMBERS

 

250 patientsmoved in two consecutive Sundays.

8 hourslong each transfer.

More than 1,800 professionals of the sanitary center formed the operative for the transfer for each day.

40 ambulancescirculating continuously for moving the hospitalized patients.

More than 15,000 visits of patients and professionals in the new hospital from 2009 for the preparation of the new Hospital.

More than 20,000 packages were moved from one building to another between the components of electro medicine, medical and non-medical furniture, boxes, computer equipment and other objects.

6 trucks and 17 workersper day had participated in the transfer of the old hospital to the new installations of Bulevar Sur.

 

AWARDS TO THE MANAGEMENT OF TRANSFER

 

The great planning and execution made in the transfer of the La Fe Hospital enabled that this hospital received the prize by the Spanish newspaper Diario ABC on its national edition the Award "A la Mejor Gestión" (Best Management)  into the category of Premios ABC Salud 2011.

 

Another newspaper, Diario Levante-El Mercantil Valenciano, gave to this hospital the award "Importante" of November 2010. This prize supposed the recognition to the effort of all the professionals who had worked in the implementation of the new hospital La Fe.

 

Likewise, the editor of health contents Sanitaria 2000 also awarded two prizes in the categories of Best Public Hospital and Best Management Team to La Fe Health Department, within the Premios Sanitaria 2000 of the Valencian Community in 2011.

Finally, the Observatorio de Comunicación Interna e Identidad Corporativa prized La Fe in the awards IV Premios a las mejores prácticas in this discipline for the management in the internal communication during the transfer.