Pleas for ambulance service solution
CALPE town hall has urged the regional health department to find a solution to the precariousness of the health transport service in the town.
The council has prepared a report of recorded incidents some resulting in death – from the local police which reflects the vulnerable situation of both residents and visitors.
The document includes specific cases in which the ambulance had to travel from Dénia or Jávea, and arrived more than an-hour-and-a-half late.
Despite the efforts of the council to strengthen the sanitary transport service, in January 2019 the Valencia regional judicial service ruled on the matter, noting that there is no authorisation which allows Calpe council organise health transport.
“Therefore, and given that the council does not have authority in sanitary matters, it cannot provide the service of urgent sanitary transport", it stated.
Calpe town hall is in the meantime still using and fully financing the Red Cross ambulance service so as not to leave the town without such a necessary provision. However, the service is still insufficient, as rein the number of complaints.
At the beginning of 2019, the council sent a briefing to the health department in which it was aware of the current precariousness of the health transport service urging the regional government to offer solutions, however to date there has been no response from the regional administration.
The current service, considered insufficient, consist of a basic life support ambulance transporting patients to Dénia hospital, a SAMU service based in Benissa and a TNA (driveronly) based in Dénia.
Often, they are unable to attend calls from the various urbanizations, or the town centre, to Calpe health centre.
When the Basic Life Support is carrying out a transport to Dénia hospital, the Benissabased SAMU is used, but it must travel from Benissa to Calpe (if it is not performing another service) and go to the callers' location and then take the patient to the health centre.
Meanwhile, the scheduled TNA transport is limited to moving patients from their home to the hospital, to facilitate assistance to external and scheduled consultations, but is not suitable for emergency care.
Given the large elderly population of Calpe and the dispersed nature of its urbanisations, calls are more frequent and travel times are increased - a situation that become worse in peak seasons.