2024 in review
The Emergency Response Centre Agency’s financial statements for 2024 are complete. The service level of emergency response centre (ERC) operations remained good, even though we were not able to meet all our performance targets. During 2024, absences due to illness decreased and the work load was evened out. Customer confidence and satisfaction in ERC operations remained high.
The year 2024 was a year of change for the Emergency Response Centre Agency. A new leadership system was introduced at the beginning of the year, which renewed the organisational structure and operating methods within the agency. At the same time, the Act on Emergency Response Centre Operations was amended, which made the authorities participating in emergency response centre operations controllers of their own data. The past year also marked the first entire year of operation under the new guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks. These changes had an impact on ERC operations.
Average time to pick up calls increased
Last year, emergency calls were picked up in seven seconds, on average. In this regard, we failed to meet our performance target, which was set at five seconds. Factors that extended the time it took to pick up emergency calls included the introduction of the opportunity to pick up calls semi-automatically, adjustments to networking times and an increase in assignment handling times.
The increase in handling times is explained in particular by the reform of the guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks. The reform extended the handling time of an individual urgent task by approximately 20 seconds. This was an expected result, as the reform focused on the quality of handling tasks at the expense of speed.
Another factor explaining the results is the increase of the number of social services tasks. The number of social services tasks increased by four percentage units compared to the previous year.
“The handling times are long for social services tasks because the tasks are complex and often linked to other authorities. The assignments also require the ERC operator to make several entries to the Emergency Response Centre Information System,” says Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency Taito Vainio.
Preparedness improved
Ninety-eight per cent of emergency calls were picked up within 30 seconds. In this respect, the performance target was reached. The networked operating model securing ERC operations during disruptions and exceptional circumstances helped us reach this target.
Preparedness was also improved in other ways in the past year. ERC operations and the related technology were secured, and operations in exceptional situations were practiced regularly in all our centres. A premises programme was also started in accordance with the performance targets. One of the objectives of the premises programme is to promote preparedness and prevent risks related to the lifecycle of technical building services. The goal for the near future is to move emergency response centres to rock shelters.
“Changes in the security environment are reflected in our operations. Emergency response centre services have to be provided in all conceivable situations, and the operations must be safeguarded both in terms of premises and technology,” Vainio says.
Prehospital emergency care reform reflected in statistics
The prehospital emergency care reform resulted in increased numbers of customer feedback messages and administrative complaints. In 2024, the Emergency Response Centre Agency received a total of 1,139 customer feedback messages, whereas the figure for the previous year was 1,014.
In 2024, the Emergency Response Centre Agency received a total of 91 administrative complaints. The number of administrative complaints grew from the year 2023, during which the Agency received 58 administrative complaints. Most of the administrative complaints and feedback messages concerned prehospital emergency care tasks.
“Changes will always elicit feelings, both positive and negative. In other words, we were prepared for this. However, the number of complaints and feedback messages in relation to the total number of emergency calls amount to a very low percentage of a few parts per thousand,” Vainio says.
The complaints primarily concern events where the complainant was denied the desired type of assistance, felt that the time it took for help to arrive was too long or felt that the behaviour of the ERC operator during the call was inappropriate. Most typically, the decisions made on administrative complaints stated that the matter did not give cause to further action within the Emergency Response Centre Agency.
Personnel situation improved
Each ERC operator received 6,010 emergency calls on average, whereas the figure for the previous year was 6,670. In addition to a reduction in emergency calls, the work load was reduced due to successful recruitment, the networked operating model and the reduction in absences due to illness.
In 2024, the number of working days missed due to illness was 14.5 per employee compared to 15.6 in the previous year. On-call personnel were absent due to illness for 16.2 working days per person (2023: 17.7) and administrative personnel were absent due to illness for 7.7 working days per person (2023: 7.0).
The number of staff remained roughly the same as the previous year. At the end of 2024, the Emergency Response Centre Agency had 619 employees, accruing 604 person-workyears due to part-time contracts.
“Over the course of the year, we piloted peer support instructor activities aimed at improving the defusing of psychosocial stress pre-emptively and locally. We also focused on supervisor work by offering individual coaching, and all of the staff were provided the opportunity to attend work supervision,” Vainio says.
Customer satisfaction and confidence remain high
According to a customer satisfaction survey, Finns are satisfied with the 112 service they receive. According to the survey conducted in autumn 2024, customers were especially satisfied with the speed at which emergency calls were picked up (4.52) and the clarity of the instructions provided by ERC operators (4.47). The percentage of customers who felt that they received help after calling 112 was 93%.
The Emergency Response Centre Agency placed third in the Reputation&Trust survey last year. In the survey, the agency was awarded a score of 3.84, while the target score is 3.5. When it comes to the Emergency Response Centre Agency, the component of reputation that citizens rated as the best was responsibility. The survey covered 82 public sector organisations.
“We are glad that confidence and customer satisfaction have remained strong. The professionals at the emergency response centres are doing meaningful work and their professional skills can be trusted in times of distress. We make the effort every day to provide high-quality emergency response centre services to customers in all circumstances,” Vainio says.
Summary of the financial statements. (Financial statements only available in Finnish.)
