The above emergency assistance level consists of:

- The system of sanitary alert

- The system of acceptance and sanitary emergency

The alarm system shall be provided by the operations center, referred to the single national telephone number "118". All the emergency requests are driven to the operations center.. The Operations Center ensures the coordination of all operations within the reference territory.

The responsibility of the medical and organizational operations center is attributed to a hospital physician who is active in the same area of the emergency.

The Operations Center is active 24 hours a day and employs suitably trained nursing staff and medical expertise to support.

Emergency operations are classified with special codes (DM 15/maggio/1992). The resque activity is exclusive competence of the National Health Service. The government determines the typological standards and endowment standards of the transportation vehicles and the professional requirements that the resque team personnel has to meet.

By the deed of agreement with the State-Regions of May 17,1996 the regions have received more duties and responsibilities on planning and organizing the health services.

Hospital based emergency must ensure, in addition to diagnostic and therapeutic interventions consistent with its provided specialties of urgency, at least the first clinical,instrumental and laboratory examination and the necessary actions to stabilize the patient and ensure the protected transport to the most appropriate structure.

The role of CRI

The CRI is inserted into the system of rescue and emergency: the statute DPCM n. 97 6/maggio/2005, art. 2, sets among the tasks of the Association in time of peace "... to contribute, through the instrument of the Convention at the organization and carrying out(with its own organization means)of the emergency services and patients transport on international, national, regional and local level." In various regions, the CRI has arranged with the ASL for the compltion of the "118 Emergency Service" and / or for patients transport conducted with predominantly volunteer staff.Such activities are nationaly conducted with the care of the regional, provincial and local commettees of the Italian Red Cross along with 3586 ambulances,many of them equipped for resuscitation, and countless permanent first aid and ER units, including the highway location in agreement with Autostrade Roncobilaccio.There have been carried out a million emergency services and transportation services,counting approximately 1,056,000 calls and 33,000,000 Km on the roads and highways throughout Italy.

The CRI emergency service uses ambulances or medical transport vehicle with CRI target number.. The staff driving such vehicles must be in possession of a special license issued by CRI.

Ambulances Classification

The Ministry of Transport and Navigation, with Decree No 553 of December 17, 1987 technical regulations and administrative provisions relating to ambulances, establishes the classification of ambulances.

In relation to the function to perform,it defines the following two types of ambulances:

Type A: with a body called "emergency ambulance", equipped for the transport of sick or injured and for the emergency services, endowed with specific equipment for assistance;

Type B: with a body called "transport ambulance", essential tool for the transport of sick or injured,eventually provided with simple equipment assistance.

The regions, while respecting the terms of Decree No. 553, implement the system of regional aid by adopting additional standards for the optimal adaptation to the needs of the territory service.While waiting for an update to the existing national legislation, CRI recommends the compliance with the european standards, although not fully implemented by the Italian legislation:

UNI EN 1789: medical transport vehicles and related equipment - ambulances.

UNI EN 1865: Specific for litters and other equipment for patients transport to the ambulances.
Our ambulances might also provide transport to other European countries.

Under this legislation ambulances are classified as:

Type A: patients transport ambulance-the ambulance that transports patients not considered likely to get in critical conditions..

This ambulance type is divided into:
Type A1: suitable for transporting a single patient
A2: suitable for the transport of one or more patients (on sedan chair or litter)

Type B: rescue ambulance-the ambulance for the transport, basic treatment and monitoring the patients.

Type C: intensive care mobile unit-the ambulance designed and equipped for advanced treatment and monitoring of the patient.The typology of transportation ambulances should be defined on whether it can carry a person (A1) or two (A2), in this last case using a sedan chair or a litter..


Minimal equipment of CRI ambulances

As for CRI ambulances is considered appropriate:

1. to always provide the A2 type of ambulance for transportation

2.to respect the UNI EN 1865 (see paragraph 3.1 to 3.9) regarding the equipment

3. to respect the EN 1789 (see paragraph 4.5.9. and section 6.3.5)regulation,regarding the support and fixing system of the equipment in the provided compartment.

All devices and equipments must be detained in order to prevent their forward , backwards, horizontal or vertical drawn when subjected to a force of 10g