Ambulances lack geolocation linked to 112 to reach emergencies faster

The province of Alicante and the rest of the Valencian Community’s emergency ambulances don’t have the geolocation tablets that should have been required in these vehicles before 2022. This would let doctors and other health care personnel save time and get to emergencies faster. “Something very important in our daily work is how long it takes us to get there and be able to see the patient as soon as possible,” say medical staff who travel in these cars. People often give the wrong location, especially in a province like Alicante where the geography is so spread out. Time is of the essence, and emergency medical professionals often use Google Maps to find their way around.

The Provincial Emergency Information and Coordination Centre (CICU) gets the geolocation data from every phone that calls 112 in a medical emergency. “Sadly, it stays there, unable to reach the ambulances because they do not have the navigation system that allows them to receive the geolocation data that arrived at 112.” And the worst part is that the Ministry of Health has been paying private ambulance firms for this service since 2022 without getting it in return. The only exception is the SAMU unit of Llíria, which has had it in the trial phase for about a year.

The system doesn’t work with it

When asked about the issue, sources from the Ministry of Health said that the Botànic government included in the 2022 tender for urgent and non-urgent land health transport services in the Valencian Community the requirement to include a navigation system that works with 112.

“Unfortunately, they must not have done any market research before, because there is no commercial navigation system that works with this one. This is just another example of the previous administration’s lack of foresight.” But all ambulances include a navigation system that lets you enter the address of your destination. Sources from this department also verified that all units had a geolocation system using the TETRA radio system.

According to Jorge Esteller, a SAMU doctor and representative of the Medical Union, there are 56 SAMU units and 109 Basic Life Support units in the Valencian Community. This means that only 0.6% of emergency ambulances meet the geolocation navigation requirements. “That’s the percentage of emergency ambulances that meet the minimum geolocation navigation requirements that were agreed upon in 2022.”

“Why doesn’t 112 send us their geolocation? The Fire Department and the Police have those tablets.” Even though it should be in the terms and conditions, the service management, which is based in Valencia, doesn’t think it’s vital for an emergency medical service (SAMU).

Handicaps

This complaint doesn’t end there. Rafael Gil, the president of the works council, has sent a document to the General Directorate of Healthcare Assistance in which he lists several “technical and operational deficiencies that affect both the quality of service and the safety of patients and professionals.”

One of these problems is that the professional navigation system is not connected to the 112-Comunitat Valenciana emergency service, which is what the technical specifications say it should be. The specifications say that “the vehicles will be equipped with a professional navigation system that will have the basic functionalities of any system on the market, but will also be capable of receiving location information about the incident from the 112-Comunitat Valenciana system to calculate and provide a route to the scene.”

Some people have also complained that most of the ambulances in the Urgent Health Transport service don’t have the ruggedised computer (equipment made to work well and reliably in extreme or bad conditions) connected to the regional health department’s network (Arterias). Others have said that the new non-urgent health transport units (TSNU) “lack the automatic steps required by the contract, being manually operated.” This makes it harder for patients to get to the hospital and makes it harder for the technical personnel to work comfortably.

Only the driver

The committee also says that A1 ambulances are only being utilised for emergency services, which means that driving and patient care can’t happen at the same time. They also speak out against the usage of non-emergency patient transport vehicles in emergency services, even though these vehicles are not allowed to be used for that purpose.

Because of these events, the works council asks the Ministry of Health to have a technical inspection of the company’s ambulances, make the winning joint venture fix the problems right away, and hold a meeting with the union representatives to work together to make sure the contract is being followed.

Healthcare personnel are upset about how emergency services employ non-urgent medical transport vehicles.
“Strict compliance with the technical specifications is an essential guarantee for the safety of patients and professionals, and an unavoidable obligation for the winning company in the management of an essential public service such as healthcare transport,” stressed Rafa Gil Gomis, workers’ representative and UGT delegate.

Carbon monoxide meters that aren’t being used

“The Emergency Medical Service, which is based in Valencia, has spent a lot of money on items that don’t help us do our jobs every day. Things like autoclaves, poisonous gas detectors, and so on, which seem to be okay with the higher-ups in the Health Department’s organisational ladder. Jorge Esteller from the Medical Union says, “This makes us think about the gap between how our service is run in Valencia and the daily needs of our work in the three provinces.” The SAMU (Emergency Medical Service) has carbon monoxide and/or other poisonous gas detectors that cost about €1,000 each, but they don’t use them in crises when they might be there “because we don’t enter until the Fire Department tells us to.”

Linked GPS

Esteller, on the other hand, is upset that ambulances don’t have GPS tracking linked to the 112 emergency number and that this important technology is being ignored. He also points out that an autoclave for sterilisation has been sitting unused since it was bought and sent to each of the 53 SAMU (Emergency Medical Service) bases and three Advanced Life Support (ALS) nursing units. He says, “All of our equipment is disposable; after use, it’s thrown away, not reused.” The price of each autoclave is about 4,000 euros.

Lastly, García says that the technicians are at risk of getting infectious diseases because of bad transportation rules and putting patients in the front seats. The Labour Inspectorate is looking into these issues, and the company has to fix them.