Children's Hospital Zagreb

The Klinika za dječje bolesti Zagreb is the leading national public healthcare institution in the Republic of Croatia providing specialised healthcare services for children and adolescents from birth to 18 years of age. In addition to delivering inpatient, day hospital, and specialist outpatient healthcare services, the Hospital conducts scientific research, teaching, and professional education, and serves as a teaching hospital of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine. It operates across three sites and employs approximately 740 staff members across 17 clinical departments and six Ministry of Health Reference Centres. Annually it records approximately 10,000 inpatient admissions, more than 15,000 day hospital admissions, and around 400,000 specialist outpatient visits, making it one of Croatia's largest providers of paediatric healthcare services.

Core areas of expertise encompass tertiary healthcare services for children and adolescents, including specialist outpatient and inpatient paediatric care and highly specialised clinical services delivered through 17 clinical departments and six Ministry of Health Reference Centres — with particular expertise in paediatric traumatology, paediatric gastroenterology and nutrition disorders, paediatric oncology, the monitoring and management of congenital anomalies, child growth and development, and the prevention and treatment of poisoning.

The Hospital employs integrated information systems to support the management of clinical workflows, electronic medical records, and diagnostic services, and actively contributes to the development of digital capacities within the Croatian healthcare system. Its extensive experience in managing sensitive health data, safeguarding information infrastructure, and ensuring business continuity provides a strong foundation for further strengthening cybersecurity and the resilience of its information systems in line with national and European standards and regulatory requirements.

Within ShieldHealthAdria, the Hospital acts as a pilot healthcare institution where the current state of cybersecurity and organisational resilience will be assessed, risks will be identified, and project activities aimed at strengthening cybersecurity and resilience will be tested. It provides expert input, participates in the evaluation of the project's solutions and outcomes, and contributes to the development of recommendations and operational models that can be replicated in other healthcare institutions.

It participates in all project activities and work packages under the overall coordination of Telekom Slovenije and in close cooperation with Combis, and leads Task T2.3 — Legal and Regulatory Requirements Mapping.

The Hospital's key contribution is the provision of clinical and healthcare expertise to support the development of the project's solutions, with a particular focus on ensuring compliance with the legal and regulatory framework governing the healthcare sector. As lead partner for Task T2.3, it plays a central role in identifying and analysing the relevant legislative and regulatory framework relating to data protection, cybersecurity, and the governance of information systems in healthcare institutions.

In addition, the Hospital validates the project's solutions from the perspective of a real-world hospital environment, ensuring their practical applicability, security, and alignment with healthcare-sector practices, and facilitates knowledge transfer between the regulatory framework and operational clinical practice.

The project is of strategic importance to the Hospital, as it further strengthens its cybersecurity resilience and supports its continuous efforts to enhance the security of its information systems. By improving cybersecurity capacities, the project contributes to reliable and uninterrupted communication among healthcare professionals while reinforcing the protection of sensitive patient data and safeguarding patients' rights to data confidentiality — of particular importance given the Hospital's role as Croatia's leading national institution for the healthcare of children and adolescents.