Changes to Ambulance Calls in Yekaterinburg

The authorities of Sverdlovsk Oblast will change the system for receiving emergency medical calls. Instead of contacting hospitals directly, all requests will be handled through a unified regional dispatch service via phones 103 and 112.

Minister of Health Tatiana Savinova explained on OTV that this innovation will improve the ambulance service«s work.

»A unified dispatch will speed up ambulance work. In Yekaterinburg, there are 11 dispatchers taking calls, and six more decide on team allocation. But in most district hospitals, it«s impossible to provide a separate qualified dispatcher. Their functions are performed by the clinic administrator, the duty nurse. It»s important that these are specialized employees. Unfortunately, it happens that calls are lost, medical history is incorrectly collected. Such situations will be eliminated when a call is taken by a professional dispatcher,« said Savinova.

The expanded dispatch service will be created based in Yekaterinburg and will unite 52 ambulance units, including seven stations, 39 departments, and five emergency advisory departments. It will take calls from the entire region and send the nearest available teams, even from neighboring municipalities.

The transition to the new system will begin this year, but the minister did not specify exact timelines.

Ambulance work will be organized into medical districts that correspond to the territorial division of Sverdlovsk Oblast:

• Mining District with center in Nizhny Tagil
• Northern District (Serov)
• Eastern District (Artemovsky)
• Southern District (Kamensk-Uralsky)
• Central District (Yekaterinburg)
• Western District (Pervouralsk)

Teams will remain stationed including in small settlements, but their work will be managed from district centers. This will give medics the opportunity to promptly travel to neighboring municipalities when necessary.