Efficiency measures of the NMPD work organization should be carried out due to the reduction of public sector expenses, taking into account the priorities set by the government in the 2025 state budget, including priority measures related to national security.
This year, the NMPD’s budget is 119 million euros, of which 90% are expenses for compensation, 8% for goods and services, and 2% for capital expenses.
NMPD director Liene Cipule points out that although currently investment in development is lacking, the service shows that there are still opportunities for efficiency.
Systemic changes in the health sector also provide justification for changes in the work organization of the NMPD. The plan of the Ministry of Health is to organize the transport of patients to emergency medical aid hospitals by introducing a new principle of hospitalization – to primarily transport patients to the nearest hospital, informed the NMPD.
“This will mean for our teams to measure shorter distances to hospitals with patients and may enable the service to remain responsive even with the help of fewer resources,” says Cipule.
Changes in the work organization of the brigades will be evaluated taking into account a set of different criteria, including the territorial coverage of the brigade network, provision of brigades per population, demographic data, population density in territories and internal movement in the country, the intensity of calls at different times of the day, as well as the hospital network and other factors.
One of the analyzed and comparable efficiency indicators is the provision of brigades per population in Latvia and also international practice.
Currently, Latvia has one brigade for an average of 9,500 inhabitants, while in Lithuania and Estonia one brigade is planned for 13,000 to 18,000 inhabitants.
Also in many places in Europe, this indicator is much higher than in Latvia, and the standards are set depending on the population density in different areas.
Also, the drastically different density of the population of Latvia in different territories creates an uneven supply of brigades – in some places one brigade is intended for an average of 6,000 inhabitants, while in other places there are up to 20,000 inhabitants per brigade.
Revision of the composition of the brigades is also an important direction of work efficiency. Already since 2018, the NMPD has been creating brigades of various composition and qualifications, gradually creating new ones or replacing the usual three-person brigades with two-person brigades, similar to how they operate in other European countries.
The need for them has been in places with a rapidly growing population or in less populated areas, where it is important for the brigade to be present due to territorial coverage.
In cities, teams of two medics are mostly formed, which respond to calls of higher priority. In these brigades, medics have learned safe driving and drive an emergency vehicle. On the other hand, teams with one medic and a driver in rural areas operate according to the first responder principle – they are closer to the scene and can arrive the fastest to start providing assistance. They respond to lower priority calls.
Also, an important efficiency criterion is the provision of brigades during the day and at night according to the intensity of calls – since the number of calls drops significantly during the night hours, a smaller number of brigades is needed during this time, because 80% of calls are made during the day, and only 20% of calls are made at night.
Until now, the NMPD has gradually reduced the number of brigades during the night hours, increasing their number during the day, which has not affected the overall responsiveness and operativeness of the NMPD.
According to NMPD, the training of medics in safe driving will continue next year, while a new training program for drivers will begin, which will prepare them to provide greater support to medics.
NMPD provides citizens with emergency medical assistance in critical health and life situations, plans the disaster medical system in the country, methodically conducts and organizes first aid training in the country, as well as stores the national material reserves of medical devices and medicines.
2024-09-27 22:55:29