The Canary Islands has completely renewed the ambulance fleet after the awarding of the new contracts for the management of the health service in the Islands, both urgent (SUC) and non-urgent (TSNU) carried out by the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the public company Gestión de Servicios para la Salud y Seguridad en Canarias. In the case of Lanzarote, two basic life support ambulances will be incorporated.
These ambulances, according to the Ministry of Health, will provide 24-hour service in Arrecife and Tías. In this way, the island will now have seven basic life support ambulances which, together with the two advanced life support ambulances (ASVA), make a total of 9.
The new SUC ambulances were presented this Wednesday in Tenerife by the Ministers of Health, Blas Trujillo and Public Administrations, Justice and Security, Julio Pérez, together with other authorities.
A total of 378 ambulances in the Canary Islands
The new tender for the management of the health transport service contemplates the updating of prices and the improvement of resources, as well as an increase in the number of ambulances in the archipelago, up to 378 units. The budget exceeds 185 million euros until December 31, 2023, although the duration could be extended for a maximum of 6 years. This dimensioning of units includes the needs of the increase of resources based on the demand for services per population center, included in the Regional Emergency Plan of the Canary Islands (PLUSCAN).
The urgent transport provided by the Canary Emergency Service (SUC) now has 120 units, adding 11 new units and an extension in the service hours in another eight ambulances. The SUC will have basic life support ambulances (ASVB) and advanced life support ambulances (ASVA), which include medicalized and sanitized ambulances.
With regard to Non-Urgent Transport, the fleet will have 258 resources, 24 more units, which represents an increase of 10%. Canary Emergency Service (SUC). The first SUC ambulances will begin operating this Thursday in Tenerife and Gran Canaria and gradually the rest of the resources will be added in all the Islands until the renewal of the fleet is completed.
In the case of the rest of the islands, Tenerife will have 40 ambulances, 30 basic life support (ASVB) and 10 advanced life support (ASVA). The improvements include two new ASVAs in Arona and Santiago del Teide and two new ASVBs in San Miguel and Puerto de la Cruz, in addition to extended hours in six ASVBs located in Tíncer and Añaza (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), Granadilla, Tamaimo (Santiago del Teide), Puerto de la Cruz and Teide National Park.
In La Palma, the 9 ambulances are maintained (7 ASVB and 2 ASVA), as in La Gomera, with 6 (5 ASVB and 1 ASVA) and El Hierro with 3 (2 ASVB and 1 ASVA), islands where the resources that were incorporated during the last years of the previous contest are consolidated, but with better benefits.
In Gran Canaria, the SUC will have 44 ambulances, four new 24-hour ASVBs located in Arucas, Canalejas (LPGC), Telde and Vecindario. By type of resources, the island will have 35 basic life support ambulances (ASVB) and nine advanced life support ambulances (ASVA).
In Fuerteventura, nine SUC ambulances will also operate (7 ASVB and 2 ASVA), with a new ASVB in Corralejo and the increase in hours in another two ASVBs located in Puerto del Rosario and Costa Calma, which go from 12 to 24 hours.
Improvements in equipment
In addition to the new dimensioning of the fleet, the Ministry of Health highlights the improvements in the technical equipment of the vehicles, which incorporates state-of-the-art telemedicine material with the possibility of data transmission; AED equipment in all health resources, including non-urgent health transport; bariatric units for the transfer of obese patients; possibility of improving the equipment of the ASVB with electromedicine to make it feasible to medicalize the resource if necessary and improvement in the bodywork of the vehicles for greater versatility.
Also included is equipment for fleet control and hardware for the implementation of the Digital Clinical History. In addition, analog technology is replaced by digital (TETRA) and mobile technology with data is incorporated.
Specifically, the incorporation of the new fleets of vehicles for urgent and non-urgent transport represents "a qualitative leap at a technical level focused on full integration with the Emergency network of the Government of the Canary Islands (RESCAN), facilitating communication under extreme situations and allowing greater agility, precision and availability in communications; a permanent and individualized monitoring of the route of all vehicles, visualizing, in a unified environment, the fleet of health transport vehicles and being able to interact with them at all times", according to the Ministry of Health.
Another novelty is related to the incorporation of mobile devices and state-of-the-art tablets to facilitate the digitization of information and optimize coordination between the personnel of the resources, the coordination room and the reference hospital center, "which will result in better and more precise attention to emergency situations".
