The Medical Emergency System (SEM) will begin the deployment of the new healthcare and health transport model in the Northern Metropolitan Region, on the night of June 25, starting at midnight. The implementation of the new tender represents a very important qualitative leap for the territory aimed at improving healthcare and adapting it to the current needs of citizens.
The deployment involves an investment of more than 384,7 million euros over the next five years. This investment allows the reinforcement and renewal of the territory's healthcare resources, improving healthcare coverage and the capacity to respond to urgent and emergency situations. Thus, the new model increases the total number of ambulances in the territory by 8,6%, going from 256 vehicles in the current contract to 278 ambulances.
Concerning the urgent medical transport, the new model also increases service hours up to 670.180 hours per year, 76.238 more hours each year. This increase allows for the reinforcement of healthcare coverage in a territory with a high level of healthcare activity and great territorial diversity.
In addition, the system will incorporate a additional bag of 13.280 hours intended to strengthen the healthcare response to contingencies, peaks of activity or extraordinary situations.
Among the planned improvements, healthcare coverage in Vallès Occidental is being strengthened with the expansion of the resources available in several municipalities. Specifically, Terrassa is incorporating two new basic life support units and increasing healthcare coverage by 28 hours. The Sabadell facility is also being strengthened with three new basic life support units and an increase of 40 hours of coverage. Likewise, Castellbisbal, Barberà del Vallès and Castellar del Vallès are expanding their hours to 16 hours each.
Along the same lines, healthcare resources are being reinforced in Vallès Oriental. Granollers and Mollet del Vallès are incorporating two new basic life support units each and increasing healthcare coverage by 24 hours, while Santa Perpètua de la Mogoda is extending its coverage hours to 16 hours.
As for Barcelonès Nord and Maresme, the new model also strengthens healthcare coverage with new resources and extended hours. Santa Coloma de Gramenet incorporates a new advanced life support unit and three new basic life support units, with an overall increase of 64 hours of coverage. Healthcare coverage is also increased in Badalona by 28 hours, in Sant Adrià de Besòs by 16 hours and in Mataró by 16 hours. This increase and time distribution increase the device already present in the territory.
The company in charge of managing the service in the territory in this new stage is the UTE Direxis – La Pau.
With an investment of nearly 2.000 billion euros across Catalonia, this is the largest public tender for the next five years by the Generalitat de Catalunya. The launch of the new contract entails a qualitative leap in resources and equipment that will allow for increased territorial coverage and improved attention to citizens throughout the country.
The implementation of the new competition involves the renewal of all ambulances in Catalonia. More than 1.600 new vehicles urgent and non-urgent medical transport, almost 300 more than in the previous contract, will be incorporated into the territory in a staggered manner.
One of the main novelties of the new model is the incorporation of 3 new types of units with specific functionalities that will allow generating synergies between urgent and non-urgent medical transport, improving the efficiency of the system and the healthcare response. There will be a total of 73 units distributed throughout the territory of Catalonia, 10 of them in the Northern Metropolitan Health Region.
Among these new units, the following stand out: 3 units of Health Logistic Support (SLS), located in Sabadell, Badalona and Granollers, intended to provide support in incidents with multiple victims, major emergencies or long-term services, as well as the transfer of emergency psychology professionals.
They are also incorporated 3 multipurpose ambulances with bariatric capacity, located in Badalona, Terrassa and Granollers, which will support both urgent and non-urgent medical transport in low-complexity services and in the transfer of patients weighing more than 170 kg or with special needs.
In addition, the new deployment incorporates 4 shuttle vehicles 100% electric to facilitate short-distance transfers between healthcare centers. From the first year of the contract, they will be available at the Parc Taulí University Hospital and the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital. During the fourth and fifth years of deployment, they will also be incorporated into the Terrassa Hospital and the Granollers General Hospital.
The new model of healthcare assistance and transfer is based on a planning based on technical and scientific criteria developed by the SEM together with the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC). Based on the analysis of the healthcare activity registered in recent years, demographic data, population dispersion and the orographic characteristics of the territory, a resource distribution model has been developed that allows to guarantee more efficient response times and better territorial coverage.
In the Northern Metropolitan Health Region, municipalities with very diverse territorial and demographic characteristics coexist. The combination of large urban centers, metropolitan areas and municipalities of different sizes forms a large and heterogeneous territory that requires adapted planning of healthcare coverage.
This study has allowed us to identify areas with significant increases in activity and strengthen their coverage with new resources or extended hours. In addition, the new model also guarantees better double coverage in situations of simultaneous services and a more equitable response to the territory.
One of the main innovations is the incorporation of advanced healthcare technology into ambulances. The new equipment allows for more precise diagnostic guidance at the scene of the emergency.
Thus, in the new advanced life support ambulances, it will be possible to perform, among others, ultrasounds i blood test with an immediate result. This will allow some treatments to be started early before arrival at the health center, as well as deciding the most appropriate hospital destination according to the patient's severity.
In addition, all units will have individual carbon monoxide detectors for each professional and new portable radio communication systems, increasing the safety of healthcare teams and patients during operations.
The ambulances also incorporate new monitors, videolaryngoscopes, crawler chairs, child restraint systems and new radio communication and connectivity systems between the different electromedical devices.
The new model also incorporates a comprehensive renovation of the ambulances' image, aimed at improving visibility and safety. The new units will adopt the Battenberg pattern in fluorescent green, a high-visibility signage system that allows emergency vehicles to be identified up to 500 meters away and aligns them with European standards and the rest of the Generalitat's emergency bodies.
In addition, they are incorporated new reflective and luminescent elements throughout the body, as well as a rear inverted V-shaped signal that reinforces the detection of the vehicle in assistance situations on public roads. The set of improvements is completed with new perimeter and front lighting systems, which guarantee visibility in any condition, and with specific devices to reduce driving risks, such as animal scarecrows.
This image change represents a advancement in security both for healthcare professionals and for other road users, and contributes to safer and more efficient circulation of the units in service.
The activity of the SEM in the Northern Metropolitan Health Region
During the year 2025, the SEM managed more than 562.000 incidents in the Northern Metropolitan Health Region. Of these, 279.437 required the mobilization of healthcare resources, while 280.119, 49,8%, were resolved without the need to mobilize units in the territory. The overall activity of the SEM in the region also included 444.844 queries received and attended to at the Health Coordination Center.
Throughout Catalonia, the SEM managed nearly 2,8 million health alerts, which translated into more than 2,1 million incidents. Of these, 52% were resolved without the need to mobilize resources, while the remaining 48% required the activation of healthcare devices. On average, the system attends 7.600 daily alerts and manages nearly 6.000 incidents per day.
With this deployment, Catalonia will have a more modern, efficient and adapted healthcare transport system to current needs, aimed at offering higher quality care and prepared to serve all citizens of the country.