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Massive and targeted investments
Nice University Hospital has committed €77 million in 2023 and then €63.7 million in 2024. Planned investments reach €64 million in 2025.
Major hospital projects relaunched
The Pasteur 2 Hospital – phase 2 represents a €170 million project for 30,000 m² dedicated to critical care, surgery and medicine. The biomedical plan mobilises €28.9 million for a strategic renewal of equipment. The University Institute of Biology-Pathology, with a budget of €78 million, will open in early 2029.
Intensification of scientific and innovative activity
Nice University Hospital produced 902 publications in 2023 and then 920 in 2024. The teams are leading 8 European projects, 15 ANR projects and hold 28 active patents. Research is also strengthened by successes in the France 2030 programmes.
Academic ramp-up with the faculty of pharmacy
The creation of the Department of Pharmacy at Université Côte d’Azur structures a new centre of excellence. Nice University Hospital trains 600 paramedical students per year, of whom 250 graduate. In 2025, 177 residents are also trained within the institution.
A unique transformation in France
In two years, Nice University Hospital has profoundly transformed its governance model and its operating methods.
At the heart of this metamorphosis: the “délégation polaire”, an unprecedented organisation in France that entrusts decision-making to medical and nursing teams, as close as possible to patient care.
This reform, based on subsidiarity, trust and co-construction, has made it possible to create a disruptive, participatory and empowering managerial framework.
« The ‘délégation polaire’ has given everyone back the power to act. It is the key to lasting, collective and embodied change. ” Rodolphe BOURRET, Chief Executive Officer of Nice University Hospital
This transformation is supported by the Strategy and Projects Committee (CSP), which has become the driving force behind a project-based hospital.
In two years, 61 structuring projects have been carried out: creation of new departments, reorganisation of care pathways, optimisation of acute beds and strengthening of medico-administrative coordination.
This model makes Nice University Hospital a living laboratory of hospital transformation.
An exemplary financial recovery
As a symbol of the overall recovery, Nice University Hospital shows a spectacular financial improvement:
• non-subsidised gross margin moving from –€21.95 million to –€2.7 million between 2023 and 2024, i.e. a recovery of +€19.2 million;
• +10.3% increase in hospital activity over the same period – the best growth among French university hospitals;
• massive and targeted investments: €77 million in 2023, €63.7 million in 2024 and €64 million planned in 2025.
These results attest to medicalised and rigorous management, combining budgetary control and recovery of activity, in an institution which, three years earlier, had the worst cumulative deficit of all French university hospitals with €372 million and a debt of €533 million.
Major projects relaunched
This momentum has led to the resumption of major projects:
• opening of Pasteur 2 Hospital – phase 2: €170 million, 30,000 m² dedicated to critical care, surgery and medicine, to be delivered in 2025; more than €12 million in biomedical equipment (largest hyperbaric chamber in Europe, MRI, CT scanner, hybrid theatre…);
• biomedical plan: €28.9 million invested over three years in the renewal and acquisition of strategic equipment (robots, hybrid theatres, CT scanners, MRI, PET scanners…);
• digital transformation: €16.6 million over three years to modernise systems (anaesthesia, intensive care, operating theatre, coding, cybersecurity…);
• launch of the construction project for the University Institute of Biology-Pathology (IUBP): €78 million, 12,000 m², a centre of scientific and diagnostic excellence with an opening scheduled for early 2029.
These structuring projects reflect the move towards a future-oriented hospital, agile and rooted in its region.
Strengthened teams and restored attractiveness
The recovery of Nice University Hospital is also based on an unprecedented human rearmament, catching up on a historic delay:
• 629 recruitments in 2024, 90% of whom are healthcare professionals, mainly registered nurses (50%);
• a positive net balance of +117 non-medical staff and +22 physicians, bringing the total medical workforce to 696 doctors;
• major reinforcements in the emergency department (+20 healthcare professionals, +14 doctors since 2022);
• an absenteeism rate stabilised at 8.7%, in line with the national average for French university hospitals.
These strengthened teams have enabled the full resumption of activity (+10.3% in stays, +10% in surgical procedures), the reopening of 110 beds previously closed (2022), and a tangible improvement in quality of working life.
« The pôle structures have taken back ownership of decisions. The recovery in activity is the direct expression of this collective dynamic… ” Prof. Michel CARLES, Chair of the Council of Pôle Heads at Nice University Hospital.
“Teams once again feel listened to, recognised, engaged in the shared project…” Prof. Jacques LEVRAUT, President of the Medical Committee (CME) of Nice University Hospital
Research, innovation and teaching: a renewed ambition
Nice University Hospital is pursuing its scientific and academic expansion:
• 902 publications in 2023, 920 in 2024;
• 8 European projects, 15 ANR projects and 28 active patents;
• major successes in France 2030 (IHU RespirERA, RHU Rebone, EDS Méditerranée, SKIN).
The academic dynamic has also been strengthened:
• creation of the Department of Pharmacy at Université Côte d’Azur;
• 177 residents trained in 2025;
• 600 paramedical students trained each year, 250 graduates.
“The University and the University Hospital now share the same vision: that of an integrated health campus, open to research, innovation and high-level training.”
Prof. Jean DELLAMONICA, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine – Université Côte d’Azur
Strengthened territorial cooperation
The University Hospital is once again playing a leading role in coordinating care across the region:
- 50 physicians from Nice University Hospital work each month in the facilities of the GHT 06 (grouping of public hospitals in the Alpes-Maritimes) (+30% since 2022);
- inter-facility care pathways have been consolidated (urology, thoracic care, emergency medicine, geriatric medicine);
- more than 2,500 teleconsultations and tele-expert opinions carried out per year (dermatology, haematology, endocrinology-diabetology).
SAMU-SAS 06, opened in 2023, illustrates this successful cooperation: 477,000 calls handled in 2024, 95% of them answered in under one minute, compared with only 75% in 2022.
Quality and inclusiveness: a university hospital open to all
Committed to a continuous improvement approach, Nice University Hospital introduced in 2024 the “hospitality” label awarded by patients for reception conditions and care pathways; more than 40 departments are currently labelled.
The institution has also distinguished itself through its commitment to inclusion, adapting its services to all audiences — children, older adults, people with disabilities or in precarious situations — through accessible, caring and personalised reception and care arrangements.
The signing of the Romain Jacob Charter in 2024 illustrates this aspiration to social and human exemplarity and the creation of a “handilab”.
A hospital of the future, rooted in its region
In two years, Nice University Hospital has shifted from a management-driven hospital to a project-driven hospital.
This transformation, carried collectively by the teams, has enabled the institution to regain attractiveness, innovation capacity and exemplarity.
Nice demonstrates that a public hospital can reinvent itself by reaffirming its values of public service, care, commitment and respect.
Source: Nice University Hospital press release
