Populatiemanagement binnen de Dringende hulpverlening: transport van patiënten met een Covid-19-infectie

Abstract

The role of population management for the Emergency Assistance: transport of patients with a Covid-19 infection In Belgium, it is obvious for citizens that an ambulance service provides immediate assistance after calling the 112 emergency center. The National Council for Emergency Assistance (NRDGH), which is composed of various stakeholders involved, has drawn up a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for this purpose. The SLA states that in 90% of cases, a care recipient or someone in his or her environment who requests urgent assistance via a 112 call should receive that help within 15 minutes after the call. To guarantee this, there is a whole set of legislation and health professionals who maintain the system and pursue it in the pre-hospital phase. The entire healthcare system was put under a lot of pressure in 2020 due to the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. On the one hand, the demand for care increased and on the other hand, the pressure on the available capacity escalated. That was also the case for the Emergency Assistance. The number of calls in the emergency centers increased enormously. The health inspectorate feared a shortage of resources. At that time, it was important for the Emergency Assistance Service to organize itself so that the principle of immediate access to Emergency Assistance after a 112 call could be guaranteed. This was done through the triage of incoming calls and the allocation of 'dedicated ambulances', which were specifically used for the transport of patients with a Covid-19 infection.