Emergency Medical Services in France - Ambulance Provision

Ambulance Provision

In the French system, the word "ambulance" itself is reserved to transportation of one individual on a stretcher on medical prescription, including oral prescription in case of emergency, and the term is generally used to apply to those response vehicles operated by the local SAMU, as well as the emergency vehicles from places such as the fire service or private companies, which are both fully equipped emergency patient transport vehicles. The "reds" (fire service) operate ambulances with 3 or 4 staff members on board, the "whites" (private companies and hospitals) with 2 or 3 staff members on board. Both teams, "reds" and "whites," have basically the same first aid-based medical training; the "reds," as they handle road accidents as well, are also trained in taking care of heavily wounded persons, extraction of wounded out of wrecks, etc.

Consequently, under the SAMU system in France, there are a number of different providers of emergency medical services, offering different levels of care, and dispatched for different types of condition.

While all of the above types of vehicles attempt to meet some aspects of the European standard for ambulances CEN 1789, published by the European Committee for Standards, the degree of compliance varies, particularly among those vehicles not officially referred to as ambulances in France. The visual identity provisions of the CEN 1789 standard are not currently being followed by the private companies, their vehicles still are white. The fire service vehicles are more and more (2010) equipped with yellow markers.