How to improve care for the two most common health conditions across Europe, including Spain and Portugal?
How can we better support vulnerable people—including those with fewer resources, older people, and those living far from major cities?

Supporting vulnerable people is central to this project.

NEW HEALTH aims to build a more efficient and sustainable model of care through integrated services, digitalisation, and advanced technologies.

Health data are at the heart of the project. Reliable, accurate, and shared data support better decisions, helping health systems become more efficient while enabling more personalised care.

The project also strengthens cooperation between Spain and Portugal, building on one of Europe’s longest-standing cross-border partnerships.

For Carmen Hernández, Managing Authority of POCTEP, the project is a clear example of long-term cross-border cooperation. More than a temporary initiative, it is designed to deliver lasting impact by strengthening collaboration on both sides of the Spain–Portugal border.
Hernández also highlighted the importance of health projects within POCTEP. To date, the 2021-2017 programme has approved 17 operations under Specific Objective 4.5, which aims to ensure equal access to healthcare, strengthen the resilience of health systems—including primary care—and promote the transition from institutional care to family- and community-based care.

Delia Bonsignore, Programme Manager at DG REGIO, also sees NEW HEALTH as a model for Europe. By bringing together hospitals, universities, research centres, and public authorities from Galicia and Northern Portugal, the project lays the foundations for a more effective, digital, accessible, and patient-centred health system—one whose results can be adapted and replicated in other European regions.

As the project leaders say:

“We must work to remove the artificial barrier created by the border. This is about advancing European integration in healthcare. If a patient lives just 2 km from a healthcare centre across the border, they should be able to receive the same quality of care there, rather than having to travel 20 or 40 km to the centre they are assigned to.” (Rafael López López, researcher at the Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS) and project coordinator)

“Innovation in health is not only about technology. It is about turning technology into real value for people, leading to better health outcomes, more opportunities for prevention, more effective treatments, and fairer health systems.”
(María Luz Couce Pico – Scientific Director at the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria in Santiago de Compostela).

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NEWHEALTH is a cross-border cooperation project, declared Operation of Strategic Importance by POCTEP’s monitoring committee.
It improves healthcare across Spanish regions of Galicia, Castilla y Leon and Andalucia as well as North of Portugal, through clinical research, digital innovation, and institutional collaboration. Led by the Galician Public Foundation for Health Research in Santiago de Compostela (FIDIS), the project brings together 11 healthcare organisations, universities, research centres, and public bodies from Spain and Portugal.

The project is progressing through its workstreams, with continuous coordination connecting its clinical, technological, and governance activities. It focuses on cardiovascular diseases, oncology, and artificial intelligence and digital innovation.

NEWHEALTH focuses on three areas: cardiovascular care, oncology, and digital innovation.
In cardiovascular care, it aims to improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, optimise referral pathways, and develop shared services.
In oncology, it supports medical research, advances translational medicine, develops diagnostic and treatment technologies, improves patient well-being, and runs joint prevention and screening programmes.
Across these areas, it uses artificial intelligence, medical imaging, advanced data analysis, telemedicine, and interoperable data systems to support clinical decision-making and improve healthcare delivery.
This work will also help establish a Cross-border Platform for Innovation and Advanced Health Services, enabling partners to share knowledge, resources, and expertise and test new solutions in real healthcare settings.

NEWHEALTH also seeks to personalise care, transfer knowledge to professionals and decision-makers, strengthen system sustainability and reduce health inequalities. This includes improving access to advanced healthcare services for people in rural areas, where distance, population dispersion and limited resources can create additional barriers to care.

The project runs from 2026 to 2028, with a total budget of EUR 6.9 million, including EUR 5.17 million in ERDF funding through Interreg Spain-Portugal (POCTEP).