December, 5, 2018
(Mississauga, Ontario) – Ornge, Ontario's provider of air ambulance and related services, announces today that it has successfully received Accreditation with Exemplary Standing, the highest possible ranking, under Accreditation Canada's Qmentum program. The decision followed its first on-site survey in October 2018 as part of an ongoing Accreditation process.
"Accreditation with Exemplary Standing is an extraordinary accomplishment," says Dr. Andrew McCallum, President and CEO of Ornge. "Ornge prides itself on being a learning organization. Our accreditation result demonstrates Ornge's continued commitment to providing Ontario's patients with high quality transport and access to health services."
As part of the Accreditation process, external surveyors from Accreditation Canada visited Ornge's Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Toronto and London bases, Operations Control Centre and Mississauga headquarters to assess Ornge against national standards. The standards focused on topics that included governance, leadership, infection prevention and control, medication management and a number of clinical services.
Healthcare accreditation is a quality improvement process which helps organizations identify what they do well and where they need to focus their improvement efforts. Ornge was evaluated against national standards and will use the results to improve the quality and safety of its services.
"Receiving Accreditation with Exemplary Standard is only the beginning," says Dr. Homer Tien, Chief Medical Officer at Ornge. "We participated in the accreditation process because we believe that quality and safety matter to our patients and their families. We are committed to identifying new opportunities and areas of improvement for Ornge to continue to provide high quality and safe air ambulance services and for Ontario's patients."