Emergency medical services in Poland

State Medical Rescue (Polish: Państwowe Ratownictwo Medyczne, PRM) in Poland is a system of free public emergency healthcare established by Ustawa o Państwowym Ratownictwie Medycznym[1] (State Medical Rescue Act), including ambulance service and Emergency Departments (EDs).

Due to shortage of specialists in emergency medicine, selected other medical specialists (anesthesiology and intensive care, internal diseases, general surgery, pediatrics, pediatric surgery, orthopaedics and traumatology) are allowed to work as ambulance doctors.

[4] Unlike the German system, the physicians do not respond in separate vehicles, instead staffing the appropriate types of ambulances directly.

While plans are in place for the restructuring of some aspects of the EMS system, these are mostly related to staffing configurations and deployment, which are not covered by the technical Standard.

This program is available in a number of Polish universities, and will completely replace the prior training standard, which consisted of an assortment of short courses.

Polish Lotnicze Pogotowie Ratunkowe (LPR) operates helicopter air ambulances strategically located in cities throughout Poland.

[11] In addition, fixed wing aircraft (Piaggio P180 Avanti) stationed in Warsaw are used for longer range transport.

[12] LPR operated a single AgustaWestland AW109 from 2005 to 2009 when the aircraft was lost (without loss of life) in a training accident and subsequently written off.

The standard European emergency number, 112, also works in Poland, including mobile systems, and is gradually replacing 999.