The Sant Cugat Campus has hosted the opening ceremony for Cuides UIC Barcelona – University Clinic for Support in Advanced Diseases and Palliative Care. The new clinic, which is part of the Hospital Universitari General de Catalunya, was created with the aim of providing comprehensive, active and individual care and support to anyone suffering from advanced diseases, as well as their families.

Also present at the opening ceremony, which was led by journalist Ramon Pellicer, were Dr Natalia de Iriarte, medical director of the Cuides UIC Barcelona clinic; deputy director general of the “La Caixa” Foundation, Marc Simón, and the mayor of Sant Cugat, Mireia Ingla. The event also featured a round table of leading experts in the field of palliative care: Dr Josep Porta, member of the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC); Montserrat Buisán, corporate director of social programmes at the “La Caixa” Foundation; Dr Cristina Monforte, vice rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at UIC Barcelona, and Àngela Sánchez, manager of the Spanish Cancer Association.

“As a university committed to people, Cuides UIC Barcelona is an essential project that allows us to take a step further towards helping those suffering from advanced diseases or who need palliative care. We want to generate excellent research in a field where this is currently lacking, but also deploy home-based care, train teams of health professionals and volunteers who can work in numerous settings, as well as attend to individuals with fewer resources and at risk of social exclusion. In short, we want to take the UIC Barcelona care model far further”, said Alfonso Méndiz, rector of UIC Barcelona.

Based on a person-centred care model, UIC Barcelona’s third university clinic is home to a multidisciplinary team of professionals from a variety of speciality fields such as medicine, nursing, psychology, physiotherapy and social work. As such, the clinic offers not only support and monitoring of patients' symptoms, but also of their emotional and psychological well-being. This care also encompasses patients’ families, who support them throughout the process of the disease.

Along with the medical care offered at the clinic's facilities, Cuides UIC Barcelona also offers other services such as support in other medical specialities, external consultations with outpatient care for discharged patients or primary visits, home-based care and bereavement counselling.

In addition, as a university clinic, Cuides UIC Barcelona not only offers students from medicine, nursing and other degree programmes in the field of health sciences a space where they can carry out their tutored clinical practicums, it also becomes a space that generates and transfers knowledge in the field of palliative care, thanks to the research carried out by the WeCare Chair at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the content taught on the Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and the Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. 

Cuides UIC Barcelona has also been made possible thanks to the collaboration efforts of individuals and organisations. As a token of appreciation for their commitment and support, Cuides UIC Barcelona also features a donor wall, created by designer Andreu Carulla for the clinic’s entrance hall, representing everyone who has contributed to the project. 

Participating organisations: Áltima, the Bosch Aymerich Foundation, the “la Caixa” Foundation and the Roviralta y Manifiesto Foundation.

Gallery of images from the opening ceremony