Elche wants own emergency services hub

ELCHE wants to open a local emergency coordination centre with the same philosophy as the current CICU service (Information and Coordination Centre of Emergency) operating throughout the Community of Valencia.
The city’s own CICU centre would house the emergency health services, forces and state security bodies and would aim to provide a more agile service, which is more organised and effective for the citizens.
Councillors Cristina Martinez and Fernando Dura, responsible for the areas of Health and Public Safety, said that whilst it was clear that although the 112 emergency services sought unification, in Elche, practice shows that was not always fully effective.
Councillor Martinez is a doctor by profession and has direct knowledge on numerous occasions of the lack of coordination that has occurred in the past with the problem becoming worse when the Citizen Service CICU became fully centralised in Valencia.
She said on occasions it resulted in operators attending calls unaware of certain locations in the province and emergency services were sent to the wrong addresses, leading to complaints not only in Elche, but across the province.
Elche’s plan for its own local emergency centre is that the office would be based at the headquarters of the local police and would have control of the various bodies that act in emergencies and would hopefully achieve greater coordination and effectiveness of all services.