Initial situation
Like many municipalities, the City of Krefeld faces the challenge of ensuring high-quality yet efficient emergency care.
Rising call volumes, changing medical requirements and the statutory requirements of the State of NRW made an update of the Emergency Medical Services Needs Plan necessary. The aim was to future-proof EMS provision and to ensure long-term compliance with the specified response times.
Investigation approach
Together with the Krefeld Fire Department, Lülf+ was to professionally review the existing Emergency Medical Services Needs Plan, further develop it and adapt it to current and future requirements.
Key questions included:
- How can compliance with the response time be ensured across the entire area?
- Which measures improve the efficiency and quality of EMS provision?
- How can resources—personnel, vehicles, locations—be deployed in line with needs and with a view to the future?
Key findings (compressed)
Lülf+ conducted a comprehensive analysis of the existing structures and processes of Krefeld’s EMS and, together with the fire department, developed a future-ready, practical concept.
Key components included:
- How can compliance with the response time be ensured across the entire area?
- Which measures improve the efficiency and quality of EMS provision?
- How can resources—personnel, vehicles, locations—be deployed in line with needs and with a view to the future?
In doing so, the concept already anticipated key elements of the forthcoming amendment to the NRW Emergency Services Act (RettG NRW).
Recommended measures (compressed)
- Development of a multi-stage concept for structured dispatching
- Introduction of additional response resources to cover specific incident scenarios
- Revision and clear definition of roles and responsibilities of the specialist personnel deployed
- Design of additional special response resources for particular demand situations or patient groups
The joint process of updating the Emergency Medical Services Needs Plan yielded important insights and identified improvements for the future.
Results of the organizational investigation
With the new Emergency Medical Services Needs Plan, the City of Krefeld is creating the basis for more efficient and future-proof emergency care.
The introduction of innovative structures—from tiered resource allocation through to the emergency patient transport ambulance (Notfall-KTW)—ensures better use of resources, shorter response times and improved quality of care.
The result: a modern, robust EMS concept that meets statutory requirements as well as the needs of the public.
Period: 2022–2024