Regional Tele-ICU Network

Context

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Hospital Universitario Arnau de Vilanova in Lleida manages around 28,000 discharges per year and treats more than 1,500 critically ill patients annually across the 30 beds of its Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

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As the reference hospital for a large and geographically dispersed healthcare region, it coordinates critical care services for several rural hospitals in the Pyrenees area:

• Santa Maria University Hospital, also located in Lleida's city.
• ‍Pallars Regional Hospital (Tremp).‍
• Fundació Sant Hospital (La Seu d'Urgell).‍
• Val d'Aran Hospital (Vielha).

Although these centres provide essential healthcare and emergency services, they do not have ICU facilities, meaning that any critical or semi-critical patient must be transferred to the reference hospital by ambulance or helicopter.

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The challenge

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In a territory characterised by long distances, complex geography and variable transport times due to weather and terrain, the lack of immediate access to specialist intensive care services can compromise early patient management and outcomes.

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The goal was to ensure that every patient, regardless of where the emergency occurs, receives the same level of care and access to expert clinical knowledge as in a tertiary hospital.

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This required:

• Enabling intensivists to remotely monitor patient data in real time from regional hospitals.
• Implementing a reliable, interoperable and secure system capable of connecting heterogeneous medical devices and IT systems.
• Reducing unnecessary transfers while improving coordination between local teams and specialists at the reference hospital.
• Providing continuous clinical support to healthcare professionals in the regional centres.

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The Solution

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Hospital Arnau de Vilanova implemented a regional Tele-ICU model supported by Better Care technology, enabling remote monitoring of critical and semi-critical patients across regional hospitals.

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The key component of the project was BC Link^®, Better Care’s interoperability platform, which automatically integrates data from any medical device regardless of brand or model.

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Through this technology, monitoring data from ventilation systems, haemodynamic parameters, vital signs, infusion pumps and alarms are automatically streamed in real time to the clinical viewers BC Mview^® and BC Tracker^®.

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This allows intensivist in Lleida to:

• Access all clinical information from monitored patients as if they were physically at the bedside in the regional hospitals.
• Maintain direct communication with local clinical teams and make shared clinical decisions based on structured and reliable data.

• Adjust treatments, prioritise resources and determine more accurately when patient transfer is necessary — and when it is not.

As a result, healthcare professionals in regional hospitals feel supported by the ICU specialists at the reference centre, while intensivists in Lleida expand their clinical reach beyond the physical walls of the ICU.

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Results

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Since its implementation, the regional Tele-ICU model has generated significant clinical and operational impact:

• 14% reduction in unnecessary emergency transfers to Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, avoiding long journeys for patients and families.
• Improved initial management of critically ill patients in regional hospitals.
• ‍Greater equity in access to advanced critical care throughout the Lleida healthcare region.
• ‍Enhanced clinical coordination between local teams and ICU specialists at the reference centre.

Better Care solutions BC Link^®, BC Mview^® and BC Tracker^® essential in providing connectivity, interoperability and real-time remote monitoring, enabling a pioneering critical care model.

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Conclusion

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The regional Tele-ICU network in the Lleida health region demonstrates that with the right technology and data integration, intensive care expertise can reach patients wherever they are, regardless of distance.

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This model not only improves the quality of care and reduces unnecessary transfers, but also strengthens the regional healthcare network and establishes a new benchmark for equity and efficiency in critical care delivery.