Ten years ago, at 8:30 a.m. on March 9, 2015, the first patient was seen in the newly opened Emergency Department of the new Can Misses Hospital in Ibiza. That day marked the end of a complex transfer and the beginning of a new stage for the Pitiusa healthcare system, which has since undergone a profound transformation.
A decade of growth and consolidation
The new hospital, built after years of construction and economic difficulties, was a qualitative leap in health care. In these ten years, since its complete opening, the Health Area of Ibiza and Formentera has registered more than 11,600 deliveries, 1.5 million outpatient consultations and more than 65,000 operations. The staff has also grown by 30%, from the 1,075 professionals who opened the facilities for the first time to the current 1,400, reflecting the expansion of services and the reinforcement of the staff in different areas.
Memories of a historic transfer
The commemorative event held this Monday in the hospital’s auditorium brought together many of the protagonists of that move. The then manager Ignasi Casas and the director of management Alberto Fernández Cladera reviewed the collective effort of more than 700 professionals who participated in the change of building, on a day when 141 patients were transferred and the first surgeries and deliveries were performed in the new facilities.
During the event, inaugurated by the Regional Minister of Health Manuela García and closed by the General Director of the Servei de Salut Javier Ureña, there was a combination of round tables and debates on the current challenges facing the Pitiusan healthcare system.
More services, more training
Since 2015, the new Can Misses has allowed the creation of highly demanded services -such as Radiotherapy, Hemodynamics, Vascular Surgery, Plastic Surgery or a second CAT scan- which have brought to the island services that previously required travel outside the archipelago.
The hospital has also experienced a notable boost in training. The number of residents trained in Ibiza and Formentera has increased from around 30 in 2015 to 85 in 2025, with new medical and nursing specialties. This line of teaching has become a key tool for the loyalty of professionals, one of the great challenges of recent years.
Housing and stability: the challenges of the present
The housing problem continues to be one of the main difficulties in attracting and retaining health personnel. The Coordination of Healthcare Housing, created in 2023, together with the residence for professionals, has provided housing for more than 250 doctors and nurses, and has facilitated the recruitment of more than 500 healthcare workers from outside the island.
These initiatives, together with the decrees of difficult coverage, have made it possible to complete staffing levels that for years remained incomplete in services such as Rheumatology, Pneumology or Psychiatry.
Ten years later
The Can Misses Hospital reaches its tenth anniversary consolidated as a health reference of the Pitiusas Islands, with modern infrastructure, specialized services and a growing staff. But also with challenges still present: to ensure the stability of its staff, maintain the quality of care and continue to offer proximity care in an island environment with its own particularities.
A decade after that March 9, 2015, the hospital that symbolized the health modernization of Ibiza looks to the future with the same challenge as always: to care for a changing, increasingly diverse population, and to do so without losing the human sense that inspired its construction.
