Tribune News Network
Doha
Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Ambulance Service has successfully achieved Joint Commission International (JCI) re-accreditation, highlighting the organisation’s unwavering commitment to providing the highest quality, life-saving care to patients in Qatar who need it the most.
JCI accreditation is a globally recognised symbol of quality and safety in healthcare and the evaluation team assessed various aspects of the service, including clinical care, patient safety, quality improvement, and leadership.
The Ambulance Service staff are distributed in various locations across Qatar in ambulances, hubs, emergency departments, intensive care units, 999 call centres and even in the sky with the LifeFlight air ambulance paramedics.
Visits to all the various locations including Hamad General Hospital’s helipad and riding along in the ambulances allowed the surveyors to observe the various teams in action, interview staff and review documentation as part of their evaluation.
The JCI surveyors commended the Ambulance Services for a consistently high level of professionalism, noting the outstanding clinical care, compassion, and consideration for patients. They also acknowledged the strong teamwork and collaboration among staff members across all departments.
"We are proud to have achieved JCI re-accreditation,” said Ali Saleh Alyafei, assistant executive director, Ambulance Support Services. "Our ambulance service is a lifeline for individuals facing life-threatening emergencies and this accomplishment is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team. Our staff consistently go above and beyond, and this recognition is a well-deserved reward for their efforts to provide swift, efficient, and compassionate care to patients at the most critical time.”
Although the re-accreditation lasts for three years, the Ambulance Service welcomes the continual interactions from the JCI in-between to collaboratively strive towards higher performance and improvement that ultimately lead to improved patient care for those that need it most.
The re-accreditation comes at a time when the Ambulance Service is keen to remind the public to save ambulances for emergencies with the winter period approaching, which typically sees an increase in pressure on healthcare services with seasonal infections as well as cooler weather attracting more people outdoors.
In 2023, the Ambulance Service received just over 295,000 emergency calls to 999 to request an ambulance. In 2024 so far, the life-saving service has exceeded this figure with 331,190 calls in only 10 months, from January to October. Reducing the number of 999 calls for non-life-threatening conditions will allow HMC’s Ambulance Service to continue to respond quickly and effectively to the most critical cases.
Every day, the Ambulance Service teams provide life-saving medical care to critically ill patients who have experienced a stroke, heart attack, road traffic accident, severe allergic reaction, seizure, chest pain or are unconscious, for example.
To enable the teams to respond as quickly and effectively as possible to these life-saving cases, HMC is urging members of the public with non-emergency medical conditions not to call 999 and request an ambulance, but rather to make their own way to a relevant health facility for medical treatment.