Hungarian Rescue Management System to be Raised to European Level 9 August 2010
The assistance contracts of two interrelated EU priority projects, “Development of the rescue management system” and “Development of the medical information system in the Central Hungarian region” were signed on Saturday. The project to be implemented in the framework of the Social Infrastructure Operational Programme received support of 3.5 billion HUF; the other project, to be carried out by the Hungarian Ambulance and Emergency Service in the Central Hungarian region, was granted 591 million HUF. The two priority projects are mirror projects, meaning that they will be implemented in parallel. Within two years, an emergency management system will be in place that meets strict EU standards.
Emergency management is a complex activity. It is vitally important for the experts to make real-time decisions based on a wide range of information. The emergency management system of the Hungarian Ambulance and Emergency Service is out of date. It is not suitable for quick and professional management of emergency calls and rescue management tasks coming in to the control centre, to ambulances and ambulance stations.
IT support for emergency management is insufficient and the current paper-based emergency management making ad hoc decisions is not in line with European standards. Cost-efficient operation is also hindered by the lack of a Business Management System.
The first step of these EU-financed projects is to carry out a due diligence and to create a model of the dynamic tasks of the reception of emergency calls and emergency management performed by the Hungarian Ambulance Service, such as information processing, decision preparation, decision support, emergency alert and rescue supervision; and later, these tasks will be optimised.
The project will modernise the Hungarian Ambulance Service’s IT system, and integrate land and air emergency management. Special digital data transfer systems will be introduced, which are able to perform on-line data exchange between the ambulance, the rescue management centres and the medical service providers. Furthermore, the IT accessibility of the Accident and Emergency Departments in hospitals receiving acute patients will be ensured.
Following the project implementation, a 15-minute ambulance response time can be ensured for at least 90% of Hungary. Also, an integrated Business Management system, a Management Information system as well as a quality management system will be created and put in operation. The project is entirely financed by the European Union, and must be implemented within two years.