Multi-million expansion planned for Costa del Sol Hospital with 'extra patient services'

AMBITIOUS plans for extending and upgrading the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella are afoot, and the job – worth €75 million – will be put out to tender this summer.

According to Andalucía regional president Juanma Moreno, the centre will have an additional 62 beds, twice as many intensive care beds, a much bigger A&E, and an increased presence of basic services such as neurophysiology, mental health, vascular surgery, and palliative care.

“Patients from the western Costa del Sol will no longer have to travel several kilometres to be treated when they need these services, and their provision will also stop the backlog at Málaga Hospital Clínico,” Moreno said during a meeting in Marbella with mayoress Ángeles Muñoz and regional minister for health and family, Jesús Aguirre.

Work on expanding Costa del Sol Hospital has been grounded for the past decade, but during the last two years, efforts have been made to get it back on track with ad hoc refurbishments and upgrades, equipment being replaced, and a larger area for outpatient appointments and A&E Observation, involving a total investment of around €3.6m.

“When the extension works were designed and the list of additional services drawn up, in 2009, the hospital was already at the limits of its capacity,” says Moreno.

“And since then, its needs have multiplied farther still; in 10 years, resident numbers have increased by 20%.”

Even 'full to capacity', Costa del Sol Hospital obtained an 'outstanding' rating in the last global satisfaction survey conducted, in 2019, and in that year, rose 39 positions in the ranking of the top 100 hospitals in Spain with the best healthcare reputation, according to the Corporate Reputation Business Monitor (MERCO).

This continued through 'Covid year', president Moreno revealed: The close of 2020 showed the Costa del Sol Hospital had 'the best data in Andalucía' for waiting list reduction, with 26% fewer patients on it than 12 months earlier.

“In the province of Málaga alone, the Junta [regional government] has invested nearly €54m in two years, in addition to the €31m budgeted for 2021 which will enable us to get ahead with works on the planned third hospital, improve various areas in the Regional Hospital and renovate or build new GP surgeries,” Moreno recounts.

Checking off the list of actions involving health service investment in the province of Málaga, Moreno added the new hospital in Estepona, the Los Pacos GP practice in Fuengirola – a job due to go out to bid 'in a few months' time' – and the San Pedro Alcántara surgery in Marbella, which 'will be finished in two or three months' and will 'offer new services' after a total pot of €5m was spent on it.