About SAMUR-Civil Protection
SAMUR-Civil Protection is a municipal service of emergency and emergencies health care, which provides services in the city of Madrid.
Brochure 25 years SAMUR - Protección Civil.
During the year 2017, the units of SAMUR - Civil Protection were demanded for 116,789 events related to extrahospital emergencies. In the face of increasing demand, we have implemented new techniques and improvements:
- Application of pioneer care and management procedures.
- Quality controls.
- Systems based on objectives.
- Innovative health techniques and joint action procedures with hospitals in Madrid for the treatment of time-dependent pathologies
All this has allowed that more and more people live with transplanted organs, that mortality due to traumatic pathologies has been significantly reduced and that the survival of critical patients within a week of admission remains high every year.
Area of activity
The municipality of Madrid has nowadays an area of 604.20 km² and a population of 3,182,981 inhabitants*, besides the people who, due to different reasons, come to the city.
* As at 01-01-2017 (Source: National Institute of Statistics).
Human Resources
Nowadays, SAMUR-Civil Protection staff ic composed of 787 people* with different backgrounds: physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, administratives, psychologists, a sociologist and a pharmacist.
* As at 7-02-2018
History of Service
In 1989, the need of a pre-hospital emergency service in the city was evident. Through the Department of Health of the City Council, it was decided to form a team responsible for the study, design and development of this service.
From the traditional old Municipal Ambulance Park, created in 1875, new ambulances were designed, a new telecommunications center radiotelephone was brought to operation, new uniforms were designed and the selection and training of personnel was improved. Finally, the Service with the current corporate philosophy, began as a pilot project in June 1991.
Later, in December 1992, after proving the benefits of its implementation, this Service was given the category of Medical Transport Section, better known by the acronym SAMUR (Municipal Assistance Service of Emergency and Rescue).
The aim of this service is to resolve quickly and efficiently those medical emergencies that occur on public roads within the municipality of Madrid. It breaks with the old legacy and philosophy of the "scoop and run", replaced by "patient care at the scene and assisted medical transport". Besides, the Service assumes responsibilities related to health management and resolution of potential disasters that may occur in the city.
In 1995 the Service became SAMUR-Civil Protection, and acquired other responsibilities such as training of 5,000 people each year in first aid and coverage of preventive services.
The Deputy Directorate of SAMUR - Civil Protection was created by decree of the Mayor, on 24th June 2004, establishing the organization, structure and powers of the Government Department of Safety and Community Services (1-JUL-BOAM 2004). It was initially created with a single department (Operations). Subsequently, by the Decree of 26th April 2005 (BOAM 5-MAY-2005), the previous decree is amended, and the three existing departments nowadays (Operations, Civil Protection, Education & Quality), were created.