Emergency medical transport: Samu, private ambulances and firefighters sign an agreement for greater efficiency

La convention a été signée dans la salle des fêtes du Département. Midi Libre – Célian Guignard

The Regional Health Agency, through its departmental director Xavier Marette, has set itself a strong objective: “That any Lozérien with an urgent health need be taken care of in less than thirty minutes.”

This was a request from the Ministry of Health and Access to Care: that tripartite agreements between the Samu, private ambulance drivers and firefighters be signed, department by department, to enable better performance in terms of urgent health transport. In Occitanie, only Lot had achieved its own. It was joined by another Caussenard territory, Lozère, which imitated it this Thursday, December 19.

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An ambitious objective

Xavier Marette, director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Lozère, was in charge of bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion. He confided: “The objective is that any Lozérien with an urgent health need is taken care of in less than thirty minutes. This will certainly be difficult to achieve. We have a mountain department, with very scattered hamlets, 100% volunteer firefighters in the barracks and a small number of ambulance companies.”

“An additional link”

To deal with these difficulties, various measures have already been put in place by public services. “We reviewed the ambulance service two years ago to ensure that we always have an ambulance on call almost everywhere in the department,” Xavier Marette continues. “We have the Samu's corresponding doctors system, which allows for rapid assistance from doctors trained in life-threatening emergencies; this is a system specific to Lozère. We recently inaugurated a second Smur line (mobile emergency and resuscitation structures). All of these systems form a chain. This agreement is an additional link to enable us to achieve our objective.”

“Triggering the right vector”

The Samu, the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) and the Departmental Association of Urgent Medical Transport will have decision trees to help them “trigger the right vector. Having this flowchart, which fits on one page, is a simple way to save time when faced with a vital emergency”, rejoices the director of the ARS of Lozère.

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