All children and young people should be assessed before their operation by an anaesthetist. Parents and carers, as well as the child, should be given the opportunity to ask questions and to be involved in the physical and psychological preparation for surgery.
Anaesthetists who primarily work on the labour ward during the night should be given opportunities to work on the labour ward during the daytime on weekdays.25
Anaesthetists should contribute to the education and updating of midwives, anaesthesia assistants, obstetricians and intensive care staff involved in the care of maternity patients.25
As anaesthetists in training spend limited time in the specialty, departments should facilitate the delivery of structured training programmes, developed by the school of anaesthesia.5
The standard of monitoring in the operating theatre should allow the conduct of safe anaesthesia for surgery as detailed by the Association of Anaesthetists standards of monitoring.10
An appropriately trained consultant or autonomously practising anaesthetist should be available at all times, through a formal thoracic or cardiothoracic anaesthetic on-call rota, particularly if lung transplantation is performed.
Departments should promote working conditions known to provide job satisfaction, including varied work, input into individual anaesthetist’s job plans and opportunities for colleagues to contribute their ideas and skills to the department.
Only individuals who appear on the voluntary register, currently administered by the Royal College of Anaesthetists, should be employed in AA roles.15
