International recognition for Embrace transport service

Helicopters, planes and road ambulances with nursing and medical staff from Embrace are the first in the country to get prestigious international recognition for quality and safety.

The Embrace Yorkshire & Humber Infant & Children’s Transport Service, part of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, is a highly specialist round-the-clock transport service for critically ill infants and children.

This month it has been fully accredited to both the US and EU standards of the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS).

Embrace was the first organisation to go through the strict new EU standards.

Embrace had held the US certification since 2014 and the announcement this month confirms their US re-accreditation – which is only held by one other service in Europe.

Dr Steve Hancock, Lead Consultant for paediatrics at Embrace, said: “The team is delighted. We all work immensely hard to make sure we are providing the very best service possible for our young patients and their families. We get good feedback from the families we support and the hospitals we work with, but this accreditation shows that professionally we’re working to the highest possible international standard.”

“I’m so proud of the team for achieving this. I’m also hugely grateful to our partner organisations, because the strong relationships we have are vital to high quality and safety.”

Embrace works closely with The Children’s Air Ambulance, Specialist Aviation Services, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, IAS Medical and Air Alliance, all of whom played an important role in this prestigious accreditation.

Richard Clayton, Director of Operations from The Children’s Air Ambulance, said: “We are extremely pleased to have been able to support our NHS partner Embrace achieve international recognition. It is truly a testament to the excellent work carried out by our clinical partner team. We are proud of the high standards of care we continue to achieve together.”

Andy Flavell and Matt Lomas, Locality Managers at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted with the accreditation and to be part of such a strong partnership which provides excellent medical care and transport for very poorly children and young people.”

CAMTS executive director Eileen Frazer said: “We are truly excited to announce our first dual accreditation. By expanding CAMTS’ high accreditation standards across the world, we strive to ensure the highest quality of medical transport care. It is an honest testament to the dedication and professionalism of Embrace, achieving this milestone, and we look forward to working with other companies and organisations who have begun the dual accreditation process.”

Embrace is based in Barnsley, but transfers children across the region and in some cases across the country. In 2016/17, Embrace transferred 2,102 newborn babies and children, carried out 33 helicopter missions, 8 fixed wing missions and travelled 170,000 road miles.

To receive the accreditation, Embrace had to be measured against a stringent set of criteria based around patient care, safety and service operations to judge whether the service was worthy of accreditation.

Find out more about our Embrace service. Vist the CAMTS and CAMTS EU websites for more details about CAMTS. See The Children’s Air Ambulance website to find out more.