Lower Austria emergency call centre seeks renewed international accreditation

Notruf Niederösterreich, Lower Austria’s emergency dispatch centre, will undergo an international quality review next year, ORF reported. Its accreditation as an Accredited Center of Excellence by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch is due to expire.

The re-accreditation will assess whether emergencies are correctly identified, locations determined as accurately as possible, appropriate first aid instructions provided and the right emergency services dispatched.

Thousands of emergency calls will be evaluated, while reviewers will also examine internal procedures, standardised training, quality assurance processes and compliance with prescribed questioning protocols. Notruf Niederösterreich managing director Josef Schmoll said he was confident the centre would meet the criteria.

The centre first received international accreditation in 2009 and says it was the first Accredited Center of Excellence in continental Europe. It has retained accreditation in Emergency Medical Dispatch, which covers the structured handling of medical emergency calls, ever since. In 2019, it also received accreditation for the Emergency Communication Nurse System, used in structured telephone health advice such as Austria’s 1450 health hotline.

Technical infrastructure will also be reviewed. Emergency services in Lower Austria can be alerted through a digital pager network, supported by infrastructure designed for a high level of resilience. A fuel-cell emergency power supply is intended to keep the alert system operating during a large-scale power outage.

IAED president Jerry Overton visited the centre in St. Pölten this week to learn about emergency dispatch, the 1450 health advice service and its technical infrastructure. According to Notruf Niederösterreich, he praised the cooperation between professional and volunteer emergency personnel.