After the attack in Kraków, the issue of staffing medical dispatch centres, which receive calls to the 112 and 999 emergency numbers, is back in the spotlight. The Supreme Audit Office (NIK) found staffing shortages in all of the dispatch centres it inspected.
What the NIK found
NIK inspected, among others, five voivodeship offices and one medical dispatch centre in each of these voivodeships. The inspectors had no objections to how the dispatch centres were organised, the qualifications of staff or the equipment at workstations. However, they found that dispatcher posts were not fully staffed, and in some places shortages occurred every day covered by the audit.
In its post-audit report, NIK wrote that in none of the voivodeships examined did the voivode ensure the required staffing. The causes cited were unforeseen events and difficulties in finding employees. The Office assessed that voivodes must fill vacancies more effectively. Some dispatchers also did not complete their courses within the statutory deadline.
The dispatch centres have operated since 1 January 2021 within voivodeship office structures. A medical dispatcher receives calls transferred from emergency notification centres (number 112) or directly from the 999 number, and dispatches medical rescue teams. According to Statistics Poland (GUS), at the end of 2024 there were 1,664 rescue teams operating in Poland.
Kraków, 7 November
On Saturday, 7 November, an armed attacker targeted people at the Main Market Square in Kraków. Chief dispatcher Dominik Wilk of the Medical Dispatch Centre of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship Office told a press conference that dozens of calls came into the centre at once, and the injured were in various locations. The first rescue team was dispatched at around 3 p.m. and was on site by 3:06 p.m. Wilk thanked dispatchers, rescuers and hospital staff.
Health Minister Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda announced awards for participants in the operation, including dispatchers; the ceremony is to take place on 25 November. The list of recipients is not yet final.
Dispute over funding and organisation
The Nationwide Trade Union of Medical Rescuers sent a letter to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Interior and Administration (MSWiA) about irregularities in the dispatch centres. The union claims that dispatchers are lacking and that some calls are being routed to other voivodeships. According to rescuers, money earmarked for dispatch centres is sometimes spent on administrative posts in offices. The health ministry responds that voivodes are responsible for employment and work organisation.
Action plans for the National Medical Rescue system published on gov.pl show the scale: the Łódź Voivodeship has 13 dispatch workstations (8 receiving and 4 dispatching), while the Pomeranian Voivodeship has had 15 workstations across two dispatch centres since July 2023. In Pomerania, a single dispatch centre is due to operate from 1 January 2028.
