Health & community
What number do I call in an emergency?
Call 112. It is free, from any telephone, with no credit and no prefix. It answers 24 hours a day and it covers medical emergencies, fire, rescue, police and accidents. The same number works in all 27 European Union countries and in several other European countries besides.
Does this apply to me
Yes, to everyone, whatever your papers. Nothing in the official instructions for calling 112 asks about your immigration status, your residence permit or your health card. Spanish law is behind that: Real Decreto-ley 7/2018, article 3 ter.1, gives people who are not registered and not authorised to reside in Spain the right to healthcare on the same conditions as Spanish nationals, and urgent care is included in the coverage CatSalut assigns.
What it costs
Free. The call is free and the My112 app is free.
What to bring
Nothing. Have one thing ready: where you are. That is the one thing the operator cannot work out for you. A street name and number, or a shop, a junction or a metro station.
How to call, step by step
- Call yourself if you can, rather than asking someone else to call for you. The information is better first-hand.
- Call from a safe place, and stay as calm as you can.
- Dial 112 directly. No prefix.
- Wait for the operator. Do not hang up and redial — that puts you back in the queue.
- Say your name and a contact number, then say briefly what has happened.
- Answer the operator’s questions and follow the advice you are given.
- Do not hang up until you are told you can.
- If the situation gets worse or changes, call 112 again.
Language
Operators answer directly in Catalan, Spanish, English, French and German. For any other language they bring in an interpreter who translates between you and the operator. The official page does not say whether Tagalog is one of the interpreted languages. If you can, say the language you need in English at the start: “Tagalog, please.”
If you are deaf or cannot speak
| Channel | Details |
|---|---|
| Video call | The free My112 Accessible app — pictograms, and sign-language video in Catalan and Spanish |
| SMS | 679 436 200, using the codes in the 112 pocket guide |
| Fax | 900 500 112 |
No signal, no PIN
You can call 112 from a mobile with no PIN entered and with no coverage from your own network, as long as some other network has coverage where you are.
How long it takes
The call is answered by an operator and help is sent from that call. There is no booking and no appointment.
What happens next
The operator sends the right service — ambulance, fire, police or rescue — and stays with you until they say the call can end.
If you are a woman facing violence, call 016
It is free, it is confidential, it is open 24 hours a day, and it covers all forms of violence against women. By telephone it is answered in 53 languages.
| Channel | Details |
|---|---|
| 600 000 016 — messages only, no calls | |
| Online chat | violenciagenero.igualdad.gob.es |
| 016-online at igualdad.gob.es |
(Where this guide writes “at”, type the at-sign.) Those written channels are answered in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician, Valencian, English and French.
| Need | Hours |
|---|---|
| General information and immediate emotional support | 24 hours a day |
| Legal advice | 8am to 10pm, every day |
| Situation | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| An emergency | Passed straight to 112 |
| Caller is under 18 | ANAR children’s line, 900 202 010 |
| About trafficking | 900 105 090 |
| Text phone | 900 116 016 |
In Catalonia there is also 900 900 120, the Generalitat’s free, confidential line for women in a situation of male violence, open 24 hours a day, every day.
Handset makers have built in a feature so that calls to 016 are not stored in the phone’s call log, but this depends on your phone. Check yours, or use WhatsApp, the chat or email instead.
For children at risk, call 116 111
Infància Respon, free, 24 hours a day.
What goes wrong
People call 112 for something that is not an emergency, and those calls block the line for someone whose life is at risk. Do not call it for information, for a medical question, or to ask about an appointment.
| Instead, for… | Call |
|---|---|
| A non-emergency health question | 061 Salut Respon — free, 24 hours a day, with translation in more than 90 languages, including Tagalog |
| Council and city information in Barcelona | 010 |
If you live in L’Hospitalet, Badalona, Santa Coloma, Cornellà or another municipality, that is a different council, so use your own council’s information line.
Useful words
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Emergència, emergencia | emergency, in Catalan and Spanish |
| Urgències | emergency department |
| Ambulància, ambulancia | ambulance |
| Bombers | fire brigade |
| Mossos d’Esquadra | the Catalan police |
| On és?, ¿Dónde está? | where is it? |
| Necessito una ambulància, Necesito una ambulancia | I need an ambulance |
| No parlo català, parlo anglès; No hablo catalán, hablo inglés | I do not speak Catalan, I speak English |
Read next
- I feel ill and it is not an emergency. Who can I call? (061 Salut Respon) — the right number when it is not life-threatening.
- How do I get a health card (TSI)? Do I need papers? — you do not need it to call 112, and you do need it afterwards.
- What is 010, and what can it actually do for me? — the Barcelona council line, for everything that is not an emergency.
Official source
Generalitat de Catalunya, “Telèfon 112”, web.gencat.cat/ca/ciutadania/atenem/telefon-112 — how to call, what the operator asks, the languages and the accessible channels. The 016 details are from the Spanish government’s own 016 page at violenciagenero.igualdad.gob.es. Pages read 9 Sep 2026.
Sources & checks
Generalitat de Catalunya · the 112 emergency number ↗
Fact-checked against the official source shown above. Not yet reviewed by a community admin. For procedures, confirm current requirements with the relevant official service.