After the City Centre Airport in Edmonton closed in 2013, there were concerns about how it would affect patient care due to the extra travel time from Edmonton International Airport.
An independent report released today by the Health Quality Council of Alberta found that the switch has not caused any patient safety or quality issues.
232 patient charts were studied, of which eight died within 24 hours of transport. There was no evidence that transport time played a significant role.
CEO Andrew Neuner says northern Albertans should feel confident in their care should they need to be medevaced.
“I think that the residents can be very assured that the care provided to them is of the highest quality, and priority is made to get patients to a higher level of care in a very expeditious way.”
Neuner also notes that transport time from airport to medical care only accounted for an average of 15 per cent of patient journey time.
“In comparison, the time it took for the medevac assistance after a patient arrived at a sending facility was about 40 per cent of the overall patient journey time, so the EMS staff and all those associated with the services certainly do a terrific job for Albertans.”
The report also made five recommendations to further enhance medevac services, including building a committee of rural doctors, EMS directors, transport physicians and STARS Air Ambulance.