IB-Salut envisages that building at the one-time Son Dureta Hospital in Palma will start at the end of the year, the demolition of much of the complex having been completed in 2020. The Balearic government is due to approve an investment in the region's general interest, meaning that the processing of building licences is sped up.
Son Dureta will become a social health care centre for the elderly. It will offer specialist rehabilitation care and attend to patients with chronic illness. There will be 540 beds in rooms that are to be designed to take account of long stays - an average of one to three months. The health service has argued that this sort of facility is urgently needed. At present, 15.3% of the population of the Balearics is aged 65 or more. By 2029, this is forecast to increase to 22%.
The work will cost 135 million euros. It will be in two phases and create two new buildings. One will have 242 beds for people requiring specialist hospital care. This building will also house an outpatient rehabilitation and consultant area and a fourth primary care emergency service facility for Palma, which will cover the needs of some 120,000 people.
The other building will have the places for long-stay patients. There will also be thirty places for patients with dementia and an area for the blood bank.