HMC managing director Dr Hanan al-Kuwari, and Dr Owen with ambulance service crew after receiving the certificate of accreditation
HMC’s ambulance service, formerly known as Emergency Medical Services, has become the first national ambulance service to be accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI).
The ambulance service will also be the fifth such service in the world to achieve JCI accreditation, as well as the biggest ambulance service in the world that has been assessed by the JCI.
The JCI is a global, knowledge-based organisation that provides solutions to help international healthcare organisations across all settings improve patient safety and quality.
It is the international arm of The Joint Commission, the US’ oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in
healthcare.
The JCI has been working with healthcare organisations, health ministries and global organisations in over 80 countries since 1994.
Dr Robert Owen, executive director, ambulance service, said it was the first time they have sought accreditation from the JCI saying: “We developed a comprehensive JCI accreditation plan which we implemented over 18 months. We worked very much with our partner organisations within HMC such as quality management, occupational health and safety, and infection control. Through our committee structure, we developed a plan and monitored our progress against that plan.”
He said that the service had conducted a mock survey in May-June where there were some 658 measurable elements in the assessment and the division was fully compliant with over 98% of them.
“We scored 100% on governance, leadership and direction, quality management, access to and co-ordination of services, assessment of patients, and patient and family education, and in the rest we scored in the high 90s,” Owen said.
The accreditation is another milestone for HMC, which was last year the first healthcare organisation outside the US to achieve simultaneous JCI re-accreditation for all its five highly specialised hospitals.
“This is something that the whole of Qatar can be proud of. It demonstrates that HMC is committed to providing the best care possible – and that the ambulance service is committed to achieving the international benchmark for providing quality care,” Owen said.