The technical specification of an ambulance begins with a single letter—A, B, or C—and this letter determines practically everything that will be included in the medical compartment and which team will operate this vehicle. The EN 1789:2020+A1:2024 standard divides road ambulances into three categories according to the level of care they must provide, and in Poland, this classification overlaps—although not always on a one-to-one basis—with the T/P/S system used by emergency medical teams. For the person responsible for the purchasing specification or completing the fleet, the difference between the types is not a formality. This article organizes what type A, B, and C ambulances actually differ in terms of equipment, required crew, and operational application.
Without this distinction, any further purchasing decision—vehicle base, additional equipment, number of people in the team—is based on a flawed foundation.
Three types of ambulances according to the EN 1789:2020+A1:2024 standard
The EN 1789:2020+A1:2024 standard, developed by CEN and adopted in Poland as PN-EN 1789, specifies the design, equipment, and testing requirements for road ambulances. The classification into types A, B, and C corresponds to the increasing level of care the vehicle must facilitate—from the safe transport of a patient in a stable condition, through basic treatment and monitoring, to advanced intensive care.
The difference between A1 and A2 concerns the number of positions for a patient on a stretcher, not the basic category of the vehicle within the meaning of the standard.
The standard defines minimum requirements, not a complete operational specification of the vehicle. This includes, among other things, safety tests—medical equipment and cabinet mounting systems must withstand static, dynamic, and impact loads, including forces corresponding to ten times the acceleration of gravity. This level of rigor also applies to type A, even though it is the least demanding in terms of the scope of medical equipment. National regulations and individual operators may impose additional requirements above this baseline level, which often happens in practice. KG Special Performance, like other manufacturers, treats A1 and A2 as a single type A product category—from the perspective of the medical conversion, the difference does not affect design decisions. The A/B/C classification is therefore a starting point for the purchasing specification, not its conclusion.
A vehicle fully compliant with the standard receives a CE marking, confirming the compliance of integrated medical systems—stretcher, oxygen, and electrical installations—with relevant European Union health, safety, and environmental protection regulations. This marking refers to these systems as a whole, not to the chassis itself, which is subject to separate homologation.
However, the standard does not cover two areas that are sometimes mistakenly attributed to it. Team training remains the responsibility of the national authorities of each country, and the transport of hospital beds does not fall within the scope of EN 1789 at all.
Type A ambulance—transport of stable patients
A type A ambulance, i.e., a patient transport ambulance, is designed to transport people whose health condition does not require monitoring or medical intervention during the journey. Most often, it serves planned transport—between facilities, for outpatient procedures, home after hospitalization—where the priority is the comfort and safe positioning of the patient, rather than readiness for an emergency intervention.
For the operator, this means a smaller scope of medical equipment to maintain and inspect compared to types B and C.
KG Special Performance manufactures type A ambulances based on the Volkswagen Crafter and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. In this segment, the choice of base usually results from the operator’s fleet preferences and the availability of service in the region, rather than the requirements of the standard itself—both chassis meet the same standard requirements for type A. The full configuration of type A is available in the complete product documentation of KG Special Performance.
Type B ambulance—basic treatment and monitoring
A type B ambulance is an emergency ambulance—a vehicle designed and equipped so that the team can provide basic treatment and monitoring of the patient during transport. This is a fundamental difference from type A—the medical compartment must provide space to work on the patient, not just a place for their safe positioning.
The A/B/C classification corresponds to an increasing level of care, and type B goes beyond type A with equipment for monitoring vital signs and basic trauma interventions.
In the KG Special Performance catalog at this level, there are, for example, the Masimo Rad-G pulse oximeter and the Ferno 449 Wizloc cervical collar. Together with a stretcher and a spine board, they form a basic set for the immobilization and monitoring of a trauma patient. In the Polish emergency medical system, a type B ambulance corresponds to a basic emergency medical team (P)—a crew consisting of a driver and two paramedics or system nurses, without the mandatory presence of a doctor.
KG Special Performance offers type B based on the Volkswagen Crafter and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, and the general configuration scope of both variants is made available by the manufacturer in product materials.
Type C ambulance—mobile intensive care unit
A type C ambulance is designed for a specialized emergency medical team (S)—in the Polish system, this is a crew consisting of a driver, a system doctor, and two paramedics or system nurses. A three-person team working on a patient requires a compartment designed so that several people can simultaneously perform tasks on the stretcher. The EN 1789 standard specifies this access from multiple positions as a general ergonomic requirement of the medical compartment, which in type C—due to the size of the team—has particular practical significance.
The scope of medical equipment in type C corresponds to the level of advanced treatment and monitoring required when a doctor works in a transport mode.
In the KG Special Performance catalog at this level, there are the Schiller Defigard Touch 7 defibrillator and the Viltechmeda Aitecs 2016 syringe pump. The capnometer category is also part of the catalog, although a specific model is not published on the manufacturer’s website. The full configuration of type C, including the arrangement of medical cabinets for the work of a three-person team, is available upon request from the manufacturer.
For the operator, the difference between type C and type B goes beyond the mere list of devices in the compartment. In type C, the doctor provides treatment on-site and during transport, which changes the organization of space and access to equipment compared to a two-person team.
Requirements common to all types—oxygen installation and compartment lighting
Some requirements of the EN 1789 standard do not differ between types A, B, and C—this primarily concerns the oxygen installation and the medical compartment lighting system. In both cases, the standard specifies minimum requirements, and KG Special Performance implements them in a specific way in each of the three types of vehicles produced.
The standard requires at least two oxygen cylinders or a manifold system, a secured and ventilated space for storing them, a pressure regulator with flow meters, and installation materials compatible with oxygen. In KG Special Performance vehicles, this requirement translates into an exterior left storage compartment, from which each oxygen cylinder is removed independently, just like the rest of the equipment for immobilizing and carrying the patient. The status of the oxygen supply is visible from a single control panel, without the need to open the medical compartment.
The standard also specifies three compartment lighting functions—general interior lighting, lighting for examining the patient, and external scene lighting. In KG Special Performance, the external lighting is controlled from panels on the doors, allowing the team to adjust it without entering the medical compartment.
EN 1789 classification and the Polish T/P/S system
The EN 1789 standard describes the vehicle category—its design, equipment, and technical parameters. The T/P/S system operating in the Polish State Emergency Medical Services (PRM) describes the method of use and the composition of the team working in this vehicle. These two classifications correspond functionally, but are not legally identical—an ambulance compliant with type A of the EN 1789 standard does not automatically become a T ambulance just by meeting the technical standard, because the crew and operating rules of the team are governed by separate regulations on the State Emergency Medical Services of 2006.
The following table organizes this mutual correspondence of classifications.
Table—emergency medical teams and corresponding ambulance types
| EN 1789 Type | PRM Designation | Team composition | Primary task |
| Type A (A1/A2) | T—transport ambulance | Driver (KPP qualifications) + paramedic or KPP rescuer | Transport of a patient in a stable condition |
| Type B | P—basic emergency medical team | Driver + two paramedics or system nurses | Basic treatment and monitoring |
| Type C | S—specialized emergency medical team | Driver + system doctor + two paramedics or system nurses | Advanced treatment and intensive care |
KPP—Qualified First Aid (Kwalifikowana Pierwsza Pomoc), basic rescue qualifications.
These labels complement each other but are not fully interchangeable. In purchasing practice, this means that the technical specification of the vehicle (type A/B/C) and the organizational specification of the team (T/P/S) must be considered together—a vehicle meeting the standard for type B will not replace the decision on who will work in it and in what composition.
How to match the ambulance type to the operational profile
The choice of ambulance type starts with answering the question of what patients and in what mode the operator will transport. A company carrying out planned transport of stable patients needs type A and will gain nothing from equipment specific to type C, which in this work profile will remain unused.
A team operating under a contract with the State Emergency Medical Services has this choice partly predetermined—the team composition (P or S) results from the contract and staff availability, and the vehicle type must correspond to this composition. The availability of system doctors in the region has a direct impact on the fleet in this context. Where staffing specialized teams with a doctor is difficult, the fleet may be dominated by type B, even if the nature of the calls would justify the partial use of type C.
For private operators and NGO organizations, the decision often comes down to whether the vehicle is to be universal or dedicated to a specific task. A single type B ambulance will handle a wider range of situations than type A, but at the cost of higher equipment and inspection requirements. Questions regarding the choice of the vehicle base, equipment brands, and after-sales service support have been described in a separate KG Special Performance guide material, while this article focuses on how the classification translates into the choice of a specific ambulance type.
The choice between type A, B, and C should begin with determining the required level of medical care and team composition, and decisions about the vehicle base, additional equipment, and interior configuration should follow this step, not precede it. The EN 1789 standard classification and the Polish T/P/S system describe two sides of the same specification and should be considered together, not interchangeably.
Operators who are unsure which type corresponds to their operational profile can consult the requirements with KG Special Performance before formulating a purchasing specification—a detailed configuration of each type is available upon request from the manufacturer.
FAQ
Yes, a vehicle compliant with type A of the EN 1789 standard functionally corresponds to a T transport ambulance in the Polish system. The decision on whether a specific vehicle can be used under a contract with the PRM is made by the operator based on the applicable regulations on the State Emergency Medical Services, not solely on the basis of compliance with the technical standard.
Type B provides equipment for basic treatment and monitoring of the patient, while type C corresponds to the scope of advanced treatment and intensive care provided by a team involving a doctor. The difference covers both the class and number of medical devices, as well as the organization of the compartment space for the work of a three-person team.
It has operational significance, although it does not affect the basic scope of medical equipment. A2 allows for the transport of more than one patient on stretchers, which is important for operators carrying out collective transport, for example, inter-ward transfers in facilities with a high volume of patient traffic. For individual transport, A1 is a sufficient solution.
No. The standard specifies requirements for the design, equipment, and testing of the vehicle, whereas team training and qualifications are governed by national regulations—in Poland, the Act on the State Emergency Medical Services and regulations concerning the qualifications of paramedics and system doctors.
