The Generalitat has announced a €175 million expansion of Hospital Universitario de Torrevieja, aiming to address long-standing capacity problems in southern Alicante. President Juanfran Pérez Llorca outlined plans to increase the hospital’s beds by 70% and add more than 650 staff over five years. The investment responds to steady population growth and seasonal surges that strain local health services, ABC Comunidad Valenciana reported.
Once complete, Torrevieja Hospital will grow from 270 to 457 beds. Plans include 150 new outpatient consultation rooms, expanded critical care, four additional operating theatres, new maternity facilities and a day hospital. Work will proceed in three phases: the first two years are set aside for design, with construction taking the following three. The local council has provided an 11,492-square-meter plot next to the hospital, allowing a 75% increase in built area and 30,000 square meters of new space. Diario de Alicante reported that the land transfer was impressive to the project’s scale. The phased plan is designed to keep clinical activity uninterrupted throughout the five-year construction period.
Phase I, budgeted at €87.4 million, will provide most of the new capacity, including a total of 457 beds, a specialty center and 150 additional consultation rooms. Phase II, with a budget of €34.4 million, will modernize the existing building and add four operating rooms and new maternity suites. The final phase, budgeted at €27.4 million, will connect the new and old buildings and expand parking to 1,370 spaces. The hospital serves more than 225,000 residents across ten municipalities, Demócrata reported.
The expansion also calls for a major hiring push. The plan includes 667 new staff: 404 in the first two phases and 263 in the third. The estimated annual payroll impact is €25.9 million. New hires will include medical specialists, nurses, imaging technicians, administrative staff, social workers and physiotherapists. The aim is to meet everyday demand and the summer influx of patients. ABC Comunidad Valenciana reported that hiring will be phased, with a focus on critical and specialized care.
Pérez Llorca contrasted the project with what he called the "fake projects" of the previous Botànic government, citing abandoned or underfunded hospital plans such as La Vila Joiosa. He said the current plan is based on "certainty and reality." Immediate steps include 12 new modular consultation rooms and 188 additional healthcare positions to reduce waiting lists.
ABC Comunidad Valenciana placed the Torrevieja expansion within a wider regional program, with similar modernization projects underway at hospitals such as Marina Baixa and Castellón. It is one of several projects across the region. Other upgrades are planned or underway in Los Montesinos, San Miguel de Salinas, Guardamar del Segura, La Loma, Pilar de la Horadada and Orihuela Costa. The Valencian Community’s 2026 health budget is €9.45 billion, up nearly 3% from last year and €1.2 billion higher than the final Botànic budget. Of that amount, €400 million is set aside for 22 hospital and health center projects, including new buildings at Hospital General de Elda and upgrades in La Vila Joiosa and Alicante’s Gerona Street health center.
Torrevieja’s expansion is part of a broader national trend: regional governments are upgrading healthcare infrastructure to keep pace with population growth and changing patient needs. Similar pressures have surfaced elsewhere, including Catalonia’s recent struggle to meet demand for specialized services.
The phased, budgeted plan is designed to keep the hospital running throughout construction. The Generalitat aims to show progress after years of stalled or symbolic projects. If completed as described, Torrevieja will be one of the largest and best-equipped hospitals in the Valencian Community.
