Latest news

The Association of Anaesthetists, Royal College of Anaesthetists, Intensive Care Society and Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine have been informed by NHS England of an impending disruption to the supply of all ampoule sizes of remifentanil.

Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust (Wythenshawe) have been accredited under the prestigious RCoA Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) demonstrating their commitment to patient safety and excellence of care.

Professor Mike Grocott has been re-appointed as a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. Professor Grocott was one of 25 renewals and will be joined by 30 new appointments. He is the only anaesthetists who is on the list this year and one of only four who have ever been appointed.

NHSEI has published a national infection prevention and control manual for England. Although there were some conflicts with a simultaneously published update of established IPC guidance, this latter document has been withdrawn such that the IPC Manual remains the definitive, national guidance on IPC.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists is delighted to announce that Dr Fiona Donald has been re-appointed after an unopposed call for nominations as the College’s President for a second year. The RCoA is further pleased to announce that Dr Russell Perkins has been re-elected for a second year as one of the College’s two Vice-Presidents, and will be joined by Dr Helgi Johannsson, who was newly elected after an open call for nominations from Elected Council Members. 

We have been informed of a disruption to supply of Smiths Medical Epidural and Combined Epidural/Spinal products containing the Portex® Loss of Resistance (LoR) syringe. This is due to difficulty obtaining a dye required for the plastic of the loss of resistance syringe and has led to a temporary disruption in production and supply. The estimated recovery is the end of June or beginning of July 2022.

The British Medical Association has published the first two in a series of five reports detailing doctors’ views and experiences of the pandemic. The reports contain first-hand accounts of the physical and psychological strain experiences by doctors, both during the height of the pandemic and in the months afterwards.

As we previously announced BJA Education moves online from July 2022. The BJA itself moved to a digital format in January 2022 – BJA Education will follow suit but will also retain a printed version for RCoA members until July 2023.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists has produced two presentations on how to prepare for the MSRA and the Anaesthetics CT1 & ACCS (Anaesthetics) Interview. The College strongly advises anyone preparing for these to take a look.