- The healthcare group has invested more than 25 million euros in the renovation and purchase of new technology and infrastructure and signs a strategic agreement with Microsoft, implementing new digital nutrition and telerehabilitation programs
- Both the three hospitals in Galicia and the three in Murcia expand their portfolio of health services for the population and Ribera Lab, its laboratory division, assumes the comprehensive biological diagnosis of the areas of Vinalopó (Elche) and Torrejón (Madrid)
Valencia, January 4, 2024 - Ribera It continues to grow in the number of health centers, services, technology and infrastructure for the health care of citizens. In 2023, the healthcare group has added the Cascais Hospital and the Ribera hospital IMSKE Valencia, as well as the Murcian group of clinics Cardiosalus and the polyclinic Riverside City Quesada, in the Torrevieja area. With these new additions, there are now 13 hospitals in the group, which also has more than 40 polyclinics and manages more than fifty Primary Care centers. Furthermore, both the three hospitals in Galicia (Ribera Povisa, Ribera Polusa y Riverside Juan Cardona) like the three from Murcia (Ribera Hospital de Molina and the hospitals Virgin of Charity River y Ribera Caravaca) have expanded their portfolio of health services for the population, the Torrejón University Hospital A new psychiatric hospitalization plant has been inaugurated and, in the first half of the year, the second private public hospital in Kuwait has been made available to the Government, the result of the project in which Ribera has collaborated with Dhaman Corporation.
2023 has passed along this same line of expansion and consolidation for the group's laboratory division, Ribera Lab, which in this period of time has assumed the comprehensive biological diagnosis, that is, all the determinations and analyzes of the health areas of Vinalopo (Elche) and Torrejón (Madrid) where it manages the respective reference hospitals, and in the first case, also Primary Care.
Technology and healthcare milestones
The Ribera group's investment in technology has exceeded 25 million euros, more than half in health centers in Spain, 5,5 million in Cascais and almost 2,5 in Pro Diagnostic Group, the radiology company in central Europe. Among others, the new CT scans at the University Hospital of Torrejón and Ribera Polusa stand out, the MRI in Cascais, the SPECT-CT scan and the new anesthesia towers in Vinalopó, where its Emergencies have also been expanded, the 3D mammograph in Ribera Juan Cardona and the latest generation laser to operate on benign prostate hyperplasia in Ribera Povisa, in addition to the new densitometers in this hospital and in Ribera Polusa.
Technology is, without a doubt, one of the facilitating elements of the group's important healthcare milestones in the last twelve months, along with the continuous training and clinical leadership of Ribera's professionals. Thanks to all this, for example, the Vinalopó University Hospital has successfully implanted the first cable-free pacemaker and a novel technique to eliminate ventricular tachycardia; Torrejón has become a registration point in the Community of Madrid for bone marrow donors and has successfully performed its first peritoneal carcinomatosis surgery with hyperthermic chemotherapy; Ribera Juan Cardona has implemented “fast track” surgery for knee and hip prostheses, while at the same time he has implemented, together with Ribera Polusa, the Knee and Hip School; and Ribera Hospital de Molina has incorporated vaginal laparoscopic hysterectomy, among others. Besides, Nefrosol Health, the group's dialysis center in Alicante, has carried out more than 21.000 sessions with patients during the past year.
2023 has also been an important year for the Breast Area of the group. The Torrejón Breast Unit has performed the first cryoablation to eliminate cancer cells in the breast and an endoscopic mastectomy; In Vinalopó, an early discharge protocol has been implemented in mastectomized women and is a pioneer in breast reconstructions with mass and tissues from the patient himself; and at Ribera Hospital de Molina a new service for early detection of breast cancer has been launched. Besides, his coordinating team He has organized and participated in national and international courses and conferences and has worked on 4 publications in national and international magazines.
Innovation and research
In the digitalization section, the Ribera group has taken an important qualitative leap with the signing of a strategic agreement with ecosystem to promote innovation and artificial intelligence in the health sector, through its technological Futures. In addition, it has consolidated co-innovation projects under the corporate agreement with Shuttle, such as digital nutrition to improve the health of patients with kidney diseases and oncohematology, teledermatology, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of skin pathologies through artificial intelligence, and telerehabilitation, which combines in-person sessions and remotely - also with AI - to assist the patient in the prescribed treatments. It has also implemented the virtual caregiver Lola in the monitoring program for chronic patients and Home Hospitalization (UHD) in three of the group's hospitals and the group's digital psychology service has been relaunched, Minds.
Last year, the Ribera Salud foundation took its first steps, which promotes healthcare research in the group's hospitals. It has agreements with other foundations such as ponder, in this case for international development cooperation, and leads participation in the European project ODELIA on Artificial Intelligence and massive data analysis to prevent breast cancer, among others.
Furthermore, in the first year of management of the Cascais Hospital, the group has promoted the launch of the Innovation Health Center in this health center, and the Research Unit of the Ribera Polusa hospital began to operate, both with experienced teams and programs. pointers.
Sustainability, awards and recognitions
Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as the group's commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda, has been another of the group's strategic lines in the year that has just ended. The projects with I walk, including corporate volunteering, and Cervantes Way, from the Torrejón Hospital, with hundreds of participants on each route, are confirmed as the most outstanding social initiatives. In addition, the group has already implemented patient councils in most of its health centers, mobile libraries have been launched in several hospitals and the workshops, patient schools and visits that were suspended due to Covid have resumed. In addition, Torrejón has humanized pediatric emergency consultations to improve the emotional well-being of the little ones and Vinalopó has developed the “Guide for a space superhero” to reduce the fear of children in the emergency room, among others.
In the environmental and quality area, one of the most notable milestones is that 84% of the energy of the group's hospitals and clinics was already of renewable origin in 2023, all the audited centers have reduced their carbon footprint (together , the group has accumulated a reduction of 40% since 2020) and the most demanding quality certifications have been renewed, such as the Joint Commission International.
Agreements have also been signed and renewed with different sports clubs in all areas of the group's health centers to promote healthy lifestyle habits through sport, collaborations have been reinforced with international cooperation entities in which our professionals and Music has been confirmed as a very prominent therapeutic element, complementary to clinical care. In addition to the microconcerts and music therapy, the group has developed the campaign in 2023 Rhythms of Life, which unites music and health, and which last year focused on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases with the creation of the first arrhythmic metronome in history. In fact, this campaign has been the subject of numerous awards and recognitions such as those from the La Lluna Festival, the Aspid, Saniss Health or New Medical Economics. In addition, Ribera hospitals have received seven TOP20 awards, three of them for global management, the CEO, Elisa Tarazona, has been chosen among the TOP100 leading women in Spain and its president, Alberto de Rosa, has received several recognitions for his career and work.
Projects such as digital nutrition have been recognized with the Digital Health award for the best telemedicine initiative and the Aspid also awarded the virtual caregiver Lola. Hospitals such as Cascais have been awarded an Honorable Menção do Prémio Saúde Sustentável and numerous professionals, areas and services have had their work recognized by independent entities and organizations.
People who take care of people
The People policy has once again placed the Ribera group in the ranking of the 100 best companies to work for in Spain, where it has been consolidated thanks to its commitment to employment stability, equality, conciliation, internal promotion and continuous training, among other aspects. The group's hospitals and their professionals have participated in national and international conferences and conferences and, for example, have had a prominent role in the National Hospital Congress, with 17 posters and five oral communications.
One of the most innovative initiatives this year has been the “Summer experience” talent plan, to attract recently graduated Nursing professionals, facilitate their first steps in the sector and guarantee good coverage during the summer months, especially in centers located in more tourist areas. The Ribera Life program for employee well-being has been consolidated this year with different activities to promote corporate volunteering and the first paddle tennis tournament for the group's professionals, among other actions.
Finally, Ribera hospitals have offered this year with great success 72 MIR and 15 EIR places in fifteen clinical and surgical specialties with the aim of highlighting the quality of training in the four hospitals with teaching, the high involvement of tutors and the development of technical and surgical skills of inmates in an early, progressive and supervised manner, as these are medium-sized hospitals.
