In the light of substantial and ongoing disruption caused by the international COVID-19 outbreak which has made normal accreditation services difficult or impossible to maintain in the foreseeable future, the JACIE Committee took the decision to extend current accreditations by 12 months and to give coverage to those centres that are actively preparing for reaccreditation. The EBMT Board members were informed of and endorsed this decision at their meeting on 21 March as part of a broader response by the association to the current crisis.
This decision recognises that transplant programmes are already managing or preparing to manage patient care in a very volatile context which requires all of their attention now. There is widespread concern about the wellbeing of their patients and all their energies are being directed towards this end at a time when many teams are facing shortages of resources including staff who have either been diverted to other critical services or are unavailable due to isolation measures.
Furthermore, the Committee also took into account the likelihood that even when the outbreak has been controlled that centres will still face a period of disruption as they return to normality. Volunteer JACIE inspectors are unlikely to be unavailable for a period of time even when travel restrictions are removed which will still make inspections difficult or impossible to schedule at least in the short-term. This decision also recognises that in countries where healthcare systems require JACIE accreditation, lapsed accreditations could cause administrative difficulties for centres and interrupt delivery care which should be avoided to the extent possible.
The JACIE Office is implementing this decision and will be notifying the affected centres directly in the coming days.
For any queries please contact: jacie@ebmt.org