Orselina,

Clinica Santa Croce

Ticino's largest private psychiatric clinic, 82 authorised beds in a two-hectare park above Lake Maggiore, with a restricted-access private floor.

Assessed

Rank #22Public score 45Tied

Public evidence, LROAS 1.0.0, edition 2026-10-01

Public evidence · 45

About Clinica Santa Croce

Clinica Santa Croce is a cantonally authorised psychiatric hospital in Orselina, on a hilltop above Locarno, occupying the former Kurhaus-Hotel Victoria across more than 5,000 square metres in a two-hectare park with views over the northern basin of Lake Maggiore and the Brissago Islands. It is the largest private psychiatric facility in Canton Ticino and the only one in the Sopraceneri, the region north of the Monte Ceneri pass, and it states that it treats over 1,000 cases a year across depression, schizophrenia, addictions, eating disorders, anxiety, bipolar and borderline disorders and autism spectrum conditions.

The canton's current list of institutes authorised under art. 39 cpv. 1 LAMal records the clinic under "Psichiatria generale" with 82 authorised beds, with mandates that include alcohol and drug diagnoses, so the register figure and the clinic's own figure agree. What makes the site structurally distinct is its stratification by floor: the third floor is a restricted-access private and international wing, while the first floor holds both a ward for 16 to 25 year olds and a protected ward of four rooms for up to seven clients admitted compulsorily or voluntarily under intensive surveillance.

This is a general psychiatric hospital rather than a single-client discretion clinic. Double rooms are offered on every inpatient floor, group work is a core part of the programme, and 9 medical full-time units serve the 82 beds. No price is published in any of the site's three languages, and no average length of stay is published.

Assessed: The clinic has a full assessment in this edition: all ten criteria scored, each with its reasoning, its sources with capture dates, and the gaps we could not close. It does not mean every fact is confirmed. How well the evidence holds up is shown by the confidence rating. What our labels mean

Clinic overview

Founded: Four years appear across the clinic's own pages and a trade listing: 1950 for the acquisition and conversion of the Kurhaus-Hotel Victoria, 1966 on the about-us page, 1995 for the present ownership, 1998 for recognition as a psychiatric institute. Unresolved.
Capacity: 82 inpatient beds in one building, reached in 2017. The canton's current list of authorised institutes records the same figure. Up to 7 of the beds sit in a protected ward across 4 rooms.
Staff per client: Not published as a ratio. The clinic states that its medical staff amounts to 9 full-time units for 82 beds, and gives a total of over 130 employees, of whom about 60 per cent are doctors and nursing staff.
Languages: Italian, German and English. Italian is the working language of the canton and of the clinic, and the website runs in all three.
Licence: Listed on the canton's current register of institutes authorised under art. 39 cpv. 1 LAMal, under "Psichiatria generale", with 82 authorised beds and mandates that include alcohol and drug diagnoses. No licence number is published.
Accreditations: No accreditation beyond the cantonal authorisation was found on any accreditor's register. The clinic takes part in the national psychiatric quality measurements and belongs to the cantonal private clinics association, neither of which is an accreditation. Unverified
Payment and insurance: Basic compulsory insurance (KVG) under the cantonal authorisation, with basic-insured clients on the first and second floors. The third floor is reserved for supplementary-insured clients, private payers and international clients.
Address: Via al Parco 27, Orselina, Switzerland

Social Worker

therapies

Dr. Dario Spinedi

Director of the homeopathy department (Clinica Dr. Spinedi)

homeopathy department

No practitioner registration numbers are published for anyone. Federal register lookups for the 17 published credentials were still open at the scoring date, so no specialist title rests on a current register record.

Treatments

Inpatient hospitalisation

The core offer across 82 authorised beds. The Psychiatric Medical Service carries out a first clinical evaluation through an initial interview on a bio-psycho-social model, and the treating psychiatrist sets out a therapeutic plan in the first days, shared and agreed with the client. The stay combines structured psychotherapy interviews with psychiatrists and psychologists, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, sociotherapy and pharmacological therapy where necessary, delivered by an interdisciplinary team. Length of stay is clinically determined rather than packaged, and the doctor in charge updates the plan towards discharge or step-down. No session count, no hours per day and no sample schedule is published.

Third-floor private and international programme

The clinic's premium tier and its only privacy-differentiated product. Reserved for supplementary-insured clients, private payers and international clients, with access restricted to authorised clients. Rooms are 20 to 35 square metres, all lake-facing, in single or double occupancy, with television, hi-fi and large relaxation areas. The separation is from the general wards rather than from other clients: the dining room, park, gym and wellness centre are shared with the rest of the house, and no supplement for the tier is published.

GET method for borderline personality disorder

A proprietary, trademarked treatment pathway that the clinic presents as one of its two specialised programmes and describes as an evidence-based psychotherapeutic method for borderline personality disorder. It is delivered in therapeutic experiential groups led by a facilitator. Protocol, session structure and evidence base are not published, so the programme cannot be independently assessed beyond the fact that it exists and that the clinic has registered the mark.

ConTatto ward, ages 16 to 25

A dedicated transition-age ward on the first floor addressing the gap between child and adolescent psychiatry and adult services. It is presented alongside the GET method as one of the clinic's two specialised programmes, and it is unusual in this peer group: almost no private psychiatric clinic in Switzerland runs a discrete 16 to 25 ward.

Protected ward

Opened in 2008, with capacity for up to seven clients across four rooms on the first floor, for clients admitted compulsorily or voluntarily who need intensive medical and nursing surveillance. The clinic describes it explicitly as a temporary placement until transfer to an open ward becomes possible. Visits run daily from 14.00 to 18.00 by advance booking.

Day hospital

6 to 12 months, up to 24 months for some conditions

Semi-inpatient treatment established in 2000, for people at the end of a hospital stay who need intensive, personalised multidisciplinary treatment without 24-hour observation. Several meetings a week with different professionals. It is used both as step-down from inpatient care and as an alternative to admission, and it is the backbone of the clinic's continuity chain.

Santa Croce outpatient practice

Covered by compulsory health insurance (LAMal)

The clinic's own outpatient practice in Locarno, offering psychiatric and psychotherapeutic consultations weekly or every two weeks by psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists, working alongside care from local practitioners and covered by compulsory health insurance. A home care service covering the canton is listed among the clinic's care pathways as a partner; common ownership is not established.

Homeopathy department (Clinica Dr. Spinedi)

Opened in 1997 inside the clinic and described as the only healthcare facility in Switzerland where cancer clients are accompanied with homeopathy, alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy rather than instead of them. It holds a separate entry on the cantonal register under long and medium-stay care. It is not a psychiatric or addiction programme and is listed here for completeness only.

Prices

No public price found.

Our assessment

The verifiable review base is small and mixed to poor, and almost all of it reaches this profile through directories and aggregators rather than from a platform captured directly. Sixteen Google reviews at 3.3 of 5, syndicated by a local directory, is a base far too small to carry weight in either direction for a clinic treating over 1,000 cases a year. Reviews from January, February and June 2025 are one star. Recurring complaints are staff turnover described as monthly, nurses given no time for clients because of the administrative load, doctors declining treatment and a facility described as falling apart. None of it is corroborated by an independent source. The national quality measurement, seen through an aggregator, splits sharply: therapist-rated treatment outcome 5.0 of 5, the best score in Switzerland on that measure, against client-rated treatment outcome 0.1 of 5 and total outcome quality 0.3 of 5. That gap is itself the finding, not a data error to be resolved. Those figures cover the whole institution, which at 9.3 per cent privately insured describes the basic-insured wards rather than the third-floor private wing, and no separate rating exists for that tier. The more serious allegations in anonymous reviews, including falsified documents, withheld food and suspicious substances on the premises, are recorded as unverified reviewer statements and were not corroborated anywhere.

Regional coverage exists and the clinic hosts none of it. laRegione reported on 12 March 2020 that a local parents' association had written to the municipality of Orselina about behaviour near parks and a kindergarten that it attributed to some of the clinic's clients, and recorded the directors' on-the-record response and stepped-up private security patrols. A regional news site maintains a standing topic page for the clinic. No first-hand bylined reporting from inside the facility was found.

None found. The best therapist-rated outcome in Switzerland on the national quality measurement is a measurement result rather than an award, and it was seen through an aggregator.

Facility

The clinic occupies the former Kurhaus-Hotel Victoria on a hilltop in Orselina above Locarno, spanning over 5,000 square metres across several levels in a two-hectare park, with views over the northern basin of Lake Maggiore, the Brissago Islands and the surrounding mountains. Accommodation is stratified by insurance class. The first and second floors house basic-insured clients in single or double rooms facing either the lake or the mountain, with the ConTatto ward for 16 to 25 year olds and the protected ward, four rooms for up to seven clients, also on the first floor. The third floor is reserved for supplementary-insured, privately paying and international clients: all rooms lake-facing, 20 to 35 square metres, single or double occupancy, with television, hi-fi, large relaxation areas and access restricted to authorised clients. All inpatient rooms have room service and television. Shared amenities include a wellness centre, a fully equipped gym and an on-site hairdressing service, with a large dining room lit through wide windows and the park used for outdoor activity. No swimming pool is published. The physical condition of the estate is contested: public reviews posted in 2025 describe the facility as deteriorating and allege cost-cutting by the owners. No independent verification of the estate's current condition was found, so those descriptions stand as unverified.

Food

Thin. The clinic publishes a large, sunlit dining room and a hotel department that names a hotel management manager and general housekeeper, a restaurant manager and a chef, and all inpatient rooms have room service. Beyond that, nothing. No nutritionist or dietitian appears anywhere in the published clinical services, no menu philosophy or sourcing policy is published, no nutrition assessment on admission is described, no personalised nutrition planning is offered and no dietary testing is mentioned. The clinic's own list of clinical services, covering psychiatric medical, psychological, nursing, physiotherapy, sociotherapy, art therapy and social work, contains no nutrition function at all. The packing list for the stay asks clients to bring diabetic diaries and allergy cards, which is not a stated dietary accommodation. One public review alleges that food was withheld from a client. That is an unverified allegation in an anonymous review, not a documented finding, and it is recorded rather than relied upon. Hygiene is covered by a critical-incident reporting system with a named group, with no published food-hygiene incident.

Privacy

shared setting

This is a shared setting and it does not pretend otherwise. Eighty-two beds in one building, double rooms on every inpatient floor, a shared dining room, a shared park, a shared gym and wellness centre, a ward for 16 to 25 year olds and a protected ward taking compulsory admissions mean clients meet each other continuously. Group work is core rather than optional: the clinic's own borderline programme runs as facilitator-led experiential groups, sociotherapy runs weekly group workshops and two daily shared coffee moments, and group outings are listed among the therapeutic activities clients take part in when prescribed. The third floor is a real internal separation, restricted to authorised clients, which is more than several peers offer, but it separates the premium tier from the general wards rather than clients from one another. No arrival or departure separation is published, and no split of single against double rooms is published. What does exist beyond statute: the care regulations prohibit publishing photographs or video in which staff or clients can be recognised, on pain of sanction or criminal complaint, and clients may not enter or stay in another client's room. Swiss medical confidentiality under Art. 321 StGB and the revised Federal Act on Data Protection apply. No staff non-disclosure policy, code names or unmarked vehicles are published, and no documented leak of a named client's stay by the clinic was found.

Assessed 2026-10-01

Rank #22Public score 45Tied

Public evidence, LROAS 1.0.0, edition 2026-10-01

Public evidence · 45

Headline basis: Public evidenceThe headline number is the public score, not the extended score., LROAS 1.0.0, edition 2026-10-01

Public-evidence total: 45

The sum of the ten criterion scores, from 10 to 100, using evidence anyone can check, including the clinic's own pages as self-declared statements. For the licence element of C2 only, it can also use an authority ruling held in our sealed evidence room. It is the only number used for the rank.

Confidence: medium. Provisional: C10.

C1 Client separation and occupancy · 2

Band 2 applies because shared bedrooms are offered at every price level: the first and second floors take basic-insured clients in double or single rooms, and the third-floor private and international tier also offers single or double rooms. Group work is a core part of the programme, with weekly sociotherapy group workshops, daily shared coffee moments, facilitator-led experiential groups under the GET method and group outings required when prescribed. Band 3 would require all bedrooms to be private. The clinic makes no one-client claim and no contradiction in its occupancy statements was found, so no deduction applies.

Confidence: high

Sources (3 cited items):

Clinica Santa Croce: First and second floors: basic-insured clients in double or single rooms. The third floor is reserved for supplementary-insured, private-paying and international clients, rooms of 20 to 35 square metres, single or double, access restricted to authorised clients.
Clinica Santa Croce: Sociotherapy runs weekly group workshops, a Saturday planning meeting and two daily shared coffee moments; the GET method uses facilitator-led experiential groups; the care regulations list group outings among therapeutic activities clients must take part in when prescribed.
m3.ti.ch: Decreto legislativo 853.500, the list of institutes authorised under art. 39 cpv. 1 LAMal, last update 04.09.2026, section "Psichiatria generale": Clinica S. Croce is listed.

C2 Clinical governance and medical cover · 8

Band 8 applies: Ticino's Decreto legislativo 853.500 lists Clinica S. Croce among institutes authorised under art. 39 cpv. 1 LAMal in general psychiatry, with mandates including alcohol and drug disorders, and a Chief Medical Officer heads the Psychiatric Medical Service. Four further conditions are met: round-the-clock physician cover inherent in a psychiatric hospital licence that runs a protected ward for compulsory and voluntary admissions, withdrawal care on site, the clinic being itself hospital-licensed, and a defined programme for borderline personality disorder under the GET method. Band 9 needs five; no non-psychiatric physician care is published and there is no entry on any accreditor's register, only trade-association membership.

Confidence: high

Known gaps:

No licence number is published on the cantonal list.

Sources (8 cited items):

m3.ti.ch: Decreto legislativo 853.500, Art. 1 adopting the list of institutes with mandates under art. 39 cpv. 1 LAMal, last update 04.09.2026: "Clinica S. Croce" under "Psichiatria generale", with mandates including F10 Alcol and F11 to F19 Droghe. No licence number is given.
Clinica Santa Croce: The Psychiatric Medical Service is headed by the Chief Medical Officer, and its team is described as FMH physicians in psychiatry and psychotherapy. The organisation page lists a Chief Medical Officer and a Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
Clinica Santa Croce: A protected ward takes clients admitted compulsorily or voluntarily who need intensive medical and nursing surveillance, until transfer to an open ward. A 24-hour telephone line operates seven days a week, with the emergency route restricted to people living in Switzerland or holding Swiss-valid insurance.
m3.ti.ch: Decreto legislativo 853.500, the list of institutes authorised under art. 39 cpv. 1 LAMal, last update 04.09.2026, section "Psichiatria generale": Clinica S. Croce is listed.
Clinica Santa Croce: Programme described by the clinic: GET method for borderline personality disorder
Ticino elenco istituti autorizzati LAMal: Search of Ticino elenco istituti autorizzati LAMal. Scope: register entry for the clinic or its operator (licence class). Result: record found.
BAG Kennzahlen 2024: Search of BAG Kennzahlen 2024. Scope: register entry for the clinic or its operator (licence class). Result: record found: K212.
Zefix firm record Clinica Santa Croce SA (CHE-101.910.394): Search of Zefix firm record Clinica Santa Croce SA (CHE-101.910.394). Scope: register entry for the clinic or its operator (licence class). Result: record found: purpose names management of the clinic, 'tutte le prestazioni chirurgiche, mediche e fisioterapeutiche'.

C3 Diagnostic depth on admission · 4

Band 4 applies with two assessment elements: the Psychiatric Medical Service carries out the first clinical evaluation through an initial interview on admission, and medication is managed by the treating physician within a therapeutic plan signed in the first week. No clinical screening before commitment, laboratory panel, physical examination by a physician, specialist diagnostics or written diagnostic formulation for the client is published, so band 5 is not reached.

Confidence: medium

Sources (3 cited items):

Clinica Santa Croce: The Psychiatric Medical Service carries out the first clinical evaluation of the client through an initial interview, using a bio-psycho-social model.
Clinica Santa Croce: Hospitalisation gives personalised multidisciplinary treatment by the treating psychiatrist, set out in the first days through a therapeutic plan shared and agreed with the client, with pharmacological therapy when necessary.
Clinica Santa Croce: Care regulations v4: medicines are agreed with the physician, who explains effects and side effects, and only the nursing team administers them during the stay. The therapeutic plan is signed with the client in the first week of the stay.

C4 Clinical intensity · 3

Band 3 applies: structured psychotherapy interviews with psychiatrists and psychologists are offered, but with no count, hours or session length. The team page describes a pooled medical and nursing staff, so a dedicated clinical team is not established and band 4 is not reached; the share of clinical hours spent in groups is not established. Length of stay is set by the therapeutic plan rather than sold as a fixed package, so no cap applies.

Confidence: low

Sources (3 cited items):

Clinica Santa Croce: Hospitalisation includes structured psychotherapy interviews with psychiatrists and psychologists, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, sociotherapy and pharmacological therapy when necessary. The doctor in charge and the clinical team update the treatment plan as the illness develops.
Clinica Santa Croce: Medical staff of 9 full-time units; over 130 employees, about 60 per cent doctors and nursing staff; nursing staff of about 80 employees including nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, sociotherapists, physiotherapists and masseurs.
Clinica Santa Croce: Care regulations v4: the therapeutic plan sets a time within which its goals should be reached, so length of stay is clinically determined rather than a fixed package.

C5 Continuity and aftercare · 8

Band 8 applies with seven aftercare elements including a defined duration and delivery within the operator: a therapeutic plan signed in the first week sets a post-discharge prevention project; the day hospital runs 6 to 12 months (up to 24 for some conditions) with several meetings a week; and the clinic's own outpatient practice provides psychiatric and psychotherapeutic consultations weekly or every two weeks, working alongside local practitioners. Band 9 needs eight elements; no aftercare price, family involvement in aftercare or remote delivery is published.

Confidence: medium

Sources (3 cited items):

Clinica Santa Croce: Care regulations v4: the therapeutic plan, signed with the client in the first week, sets goals, medical therapies, a time frame and a post-discharge prevention project.
Clinica Santa Croce: Day Hospital: for people at the end of a hospital stay who need intensive, personalised multidisciplinary treatment without 24-hour observation; lasts 6 to 12 months, up to 24 months for some conditions, with several meetings a week with different professionals.
Clinica Santa Croce: Santa Croce outpatient practice: psychiatric and psychotherapeutic consultations weekly or every two weeks by psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists, working alongside care from local practitioners, covered by compulsory health insurance.

C6 Admission integrity and commercial conduct · 4

Band 4 applies: a clean sweep with no positive signal. No self-ranking, no paid recognition presented as independent and no content directed at AI assistants was found on santacroce.ch, clinicaspinedi.ch or umaniti.ch; the homeopathy department's 91 per cent recommendation figure is presented as its own data. No residential price, referral-fee position, policy on declining unsuitable admissions or voluntary-admission policy is published, so band 5 is not reached.

Confidence: low

Sources (4 cited items):

Clinica Santa Croce: No price appears on the home page, care pathways, hospitalisation or wards pages. The third floor is described only by insurance class.
clinicaspinedi.ch: The homeopathy department page shows a figure of 91 per cent of its clients recommending the clinic to a friend, presented as the department's own data rather than as independent recognition. No ranking or award content.
Clinica Santa Croce: The protected ward takes compulsory as well as voluntary admissions. The care regulations allow an immediate end to the stay for rule breaches, which is a conduct rule rather than an admissions policy.
clinic and group domains, web search: Search of clinic and group domains, web search. Scope: domains checked santacroce.ch (English and Italian pages, including the care regulations PDF), clinicaspinedi.ch (in-house homeopathy department), umaniti.ch (home care partner listed in the clinic's care pathways); domains listed by the clinic: clinic questionnaire response not received; searches.... Result: sweep recorded; outcome per the C6 V elements.

C7 Transparency toward the client · 3

Band 3 applies with two transparency elements: the privacy notice names the operating entity Clinica Santa Croce SA with its registered address in Orselina, and the home page states that the emergency service is restricted to people living in Switzerland or holding Swiss-valid insurance. Fee inclusions, payment, refund and extension terms, a licence number or register link, ownership consistent with the corporate record, an external complaints body, inspection results and a client-records retention period are not published, so band 4 is not reached. No contradiction was deducted.

Confidence: medium

Known gaps:

Ownership could not be checked against the public corporate record because register extracts require a login.

Sources (3 cited items):

iubenda.com: Privacy notice: data controller Clinica Santa Croce SA, Via al Parco 27, 6644 Orselina, Ticino. Scope limited to website users, with retention stated only as "for the time required by the purpose".
Clinica Santa Croce: The emergency service is only for people living in Switzerland or holding health insurance valid in Switzerland, while information requests are open to all countries.
Clinica Santa Croce: The Ticino commercial register portal requires a login for extracts and share ownership of a Swiss company limited by shares is not on the register, so the ownership statement on the history page could not be checked against the public corporate record.

C8 Track record and regulator standing · 5

Band 5 applies: court and regulator searches found no final outcome against Clinica Santa Croce SA within ten years. A 2020 local news report records a parents' association complaint about client conduct near the clinic and the directors' response, with no regulator or court finding; it is recorded as an allegation and scores nothing. No statutory inspection result is published on the cantonal register, and there is no first-hand bylined reporting from inside the facility or verifiable review evidence, so band 6 is not reached.

Confidence: low

Known gaps:

The ANQ quality reporting source was unreachable during the search.

Sources (8 cited items):

laregione.ch: laRegione, 12 March 2020: a parents' association letter to the municipality alleging conduct by some clients near parks and a kindergarten, the clinic directors' on-record response, and extra private security patrols. No regulator or court finding is reported.
Clinica Santa Croce: Recognised as a psychiatric institute in cantonal hospital planning since 1998, under the current ownership since spring 1995.
Ticino Ufficio sanita, albo strutture sanitarie: Search of Ticino Ufficio sanita, albo strutture sanitarie. Scope: register entry for the clinic or its operator (last inspection). Result: no record found.
ANQ Messergebnisse Psychiatrie: Search of ANQ Messergebnisse Psychiatrie. Scope: register entry for the clinic or its operator (last inspection). Result: source unreachable at time of search: hospital search loads by script; browser pane shared and contended, no own tab could be opened.
general web search: Search of a general web search engine. Scope: "Clinica Santa Croce" Orselina sentenza OR tribunale OR condanna OR multa. Result: no record found.
general web search (entscheidsuche.ch, bger.ch, ti.ch): Search of general web search (entscheidsuche.ch, bger.ch, ti.ch). Scope: "Clinica Santa Croce SA". Result: no record found.
press and news search: Search of press and news search. Scope: first-hand bylined reporting from inside the facility, last 5 years. Result: no record found.
statutory regulator records: Search of statutory regulator records. Scope: inspection history and grades of this site. Result: no record found.

C9 Environment, safety and nutrition · 4

Band 4 is the mean of two sub-scores: environment and safety 6, nutrition 2. Environment meets seven elements, including on-site treatment rooms, a two-hectare park with gym and wellness centre, published substance and medication rules, named hotel and housekeeping roles, the premises on the cantonal list, and a 24-hour emergency department about 7 minutes and 3.9 km by road at Ospedale Regionale di Locarno La Carità (a Leading Rehabs estimate, destination verified on the hospital's page). Band 7 needs emergency readiness on site, which with a self-harm environmental risk assessment is unpublished. Nutrition stays at 2 because meals are provided but no nutrition professional or plan is published.

Confidence: medium

Known gaps:

The emergency travel time is derived by the publisher, not published by the clinic.

Sources (4 cited items):

Clinica Santa Croce: More than 5,000 square metres on several levels, a two-hectare park, a fully equipped gym, a wellness centre, a large dining room and a hairdresser on site.
Clinica Santa Croce: Care regulations v4: possession or use of alcohol or psychotropic substances is not allowed; personal medicines are not allowed unless recorded in the clinical file with the treating doctor's consent; medication is administered only by the nursing team.
eoc.ch: Derived by Leading Rehabs, not published by the clinic: about 7 minutes and 3.9 km by road to the emergency department of Ospedale Regionale di Locarno La Carità, which the hospital's own page describes as "Aperto tutti i giorni 24/24".
Clinica Santa Croce: The hotel team page names a hotel management manager and general housekeeper, a restaurant manager and a chef. No nutrition professional appears anywhere in the published clinical services.

C10 Clinical seniority and academic standing · 4

Band 4 applies: federal registers confirm specialist titles in psychiatry and psychotherapy for nine named psychiatrists, including both medical leads (one in child and adolescent psychiatry), and federally recognised psychotherapist titles for five named psychology staff, so a relevant specialist works on cases. No doctorate, university appointment or publication record is verified, so the depth needed for band 5 is not reached. The score is provisional because four register lookups remain open.

Provisional: Clinician register lookups for this criterion were still open at the edition cut-off (see known_gaps). The points count as assessed on the evidence available; the band may change when the lookups are completed, which is resolved in a later edition.

Confidence: medium

Known gaps:

Four register lookups remain open.

Sources (4 cited items):

Clinica Santa Croce: Roster capture on 2026-09-15 across nine clinic pages found 28 named people with a role in client care, clinical governance or clinical training, including two medical leads, eight psychiatrists, a junior psychiatrist, four psychology staff, five nursing staff and five therapy staff.
healthreg-public.admin.ch: The federal medical professions register (MedReg) lists a federal specialist title in psychiatry and psychotherapy for the Chief Medical Officer, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and six further named psychiatrists, and a title in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy for one more.
healthreg-public.admin.ch: The federal psychology professions register (PsyReg) lists the Head of Psychological Service and four further named psychology staff as federally recognised psychotherapists. Two psychiatrists and two nurses remain to be checked.
m3.ti.ch: Facility licence proof: the canton's current list of institutes authorised under art. 39 cpv. 1 LAMal, queried 2026-09-16, lists Clinica S. Croce under "Psichiatria generale". The publication was 12 days old at the query date and passes the currency test.

Frequently asked questions

What does treatment at Clinica Santa Croce cost?

The clinic publishes no prices at all, in any of its three website languages, and no usable source carries a rate. Cost depends on insurance class: basic-insured clients are accommodated on the first and second floors, while the third floor is reserved for supplementary-insured clients, private payers and international clients, with no published supplement for that tier. Quotes come from the clinic directly on +41 91 735 41 41 or through its online information request form. Only 9.3 per cent of its clients are privately insured, so the premium tier is a small part of the operation.

Where is the clinic and how do you get there?

Via al Parco 27, 6644 Orselina, on a hilltop above Locarno in Italian-speaking Ticino, in a two-hectare park looking over the northern basin of Lake Maggiore and the Brissago Islands. Locarno is reachable by train from Zurich or Milan and by road, and the setting has a mild southern lake climate. The clinic is the only psychiatric facility in the Sopraceneri, the region north of the Monte Ceneri pass, which shapes both its case mix and its intake.

Who is the clinic designed for?

Adults with depression, schizophrenia and other psychoses, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, borderline and other personality disorders, eating disorders, addictions and autism spectrum conditions, plus young people aged 16 to 25 on the dedicated ConTatto ward. It carries a cantonal mandate and runs a protected ward that takes compulsory admissions, so the client mix is broad and largely basic-insured. The third floor serves supplementary-insured, private-paying and international clients. It is a general psychiatric hospital, not a single-client discretion clinic.

How does admission work?

The clinic asks people to go through their family doctor or treating psychiatrist, who discusses the case with the clinic and coordinates the admission. Those without a treating clinician can use the 24-hour telephone line on +41 91 735 41 41 or the online contact form. The emergency route is restricted to people living in Switzerland or holding health insurance valid in Switzerland, and international enquirers are directed to the general information-request form, which carries no stated response time. Acute cases needing high surveillance go to the protected ward and transfer to an open ward when possible. No waiting time is published, and no clinical screening before commitment is described.

What happens after discharge?

The clinic runs a continuous care chain of its own. A written therapeutic plan, signed with the client in the first week of the stay, sets goals, medical therapies, a time frame and a post-discharge prevention project. Clients can step down from inpatient care to the clinic's own day hospital, which has operated since 2000 and lasts 6 to 12 months, up to 24 months for some conditions, with several meetings a week. From there they can move to the clinic's own outpatient psychiatric practice in Locarno, with consultations weekly or every two weeks, covered by compulsory insurance. No aftercare price, family involvement in aftercare or remote delivery is published.

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