AirMed in the UK has become the first European air ambulance operator to achieve Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) certification. “This is a huge achievement,” says David Quayle, the chief flight nurse who led the accreditation process. “We are one of only two operators situated outside North America which has received this accreditation and on top of that we are one of only four operators worldwide that has achieved dual accreditation from both CAMTS and EURAMI, the European Aeromedical Institute.”

AirMed decided to prepare and apply for CAMTS in 2013. This decision was driven by the US insurance and assistance market, which recognises CAMTS accreditation standards.

“One of the major difficulties that we had to face when going through this process was the fact that the CAMTS standards are derived from the US healthcare and aviation regulatory system,” Quayle continues. “Despite the feeling that the UK is closely aligned with the US, when it comes to both of these complex areas we are actually more closely aligned with continental Europe. We had to adapt the criteria of each aspect of the CAMTS standards to our UK system in a way that still demonstrated clear compliance.”

The comprehensive application and auditing process of CAMTS looks at every aspect of a company's oper-ation including aircraft maintenance, flight and ground operations, training across the organisation and patient management and clinical governance.