112 emergency hotline answers 99% of calls in under 10 seconds
Catalan government highlights quality of service and work done in Barcelona and Reus call centers
The 112 emergency hotline in Catalonia answered in under 10 seconds an average of 99% of calls during the first six months of this year.
The figure marks the highest ever recorded since the service is available, which proves "the correct service of the call centers," as Irene Fornós, the director of the 112 emergency hotline, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN). The team has two centers, one in the southern city of Reus and the second in Barcelona's Zona Franca port area.
Between January and March, the service has almost reached the 99% of answers in under 10 seconds, while in April, for the first time, the average figure increased to 99.4%. In May and June, it dropped again to 99.1%.
Last year, the average number ranged from 91% to 98.2%.
The 112 hotline gets an average of 9,500 daily calls, with some events, such as wildfires or droughts, reaching up to 9,900 calls.
The waiting time to respond varies depending on the number of incoming calls 112 has, as it has a very marked season with more calls or fewer depending on the day or even the hour of the week.
To have a homogenous standard, Fornós said that they study the different operations and analyze the available data using algorithms to adjust the number of calls.
We never know how many calls we will have, but because of our experience, we're able to be more and more accurate with our estimates," she added.
Fines and indefinite strike
Recently, the Catalan government issued fines for 14 consecutive months to Serveo, an external company in charge of operating the 112 emergency hotline, due to mismanagement.
Between February 2022 and March 2023, the executive fined the company €68,000 because of inadequate translation services offered to non-Catalan or Spanish speakers, a lack of quality, very severe mistakes made, and breaches of procedures.
Also, the CGT trade union called on an indefinite strike on Saturday during all weekends starting from August in the Reus call center. Workers in Barcelona can also go on strike.