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Specific equipment for difficult airway management should be available in a clearly labelled trolley.

Units should have access to ultra-short-acting opioids with stable context-sensitive half times deliverable by infusion using software accommodating a range of appropriate pharmacokinetic models that permits intraoperative cardiostability, smooth emergence from anaesthesia and rapid and accurate postoperative neurological assessment.

Equipment that complies with Association of Anaesthetists standards for anaesthetic monitoring should be available.¹³

Consideration should be given to continuing as much clinically indicated neuromonitoring as safely possible when the patient is transferred between critical care unit, theatres, interventional suite, MRI and CT scanners.^14,15

Monitoring equipment to detect venous air embolism and catheters for air aspiration should be available. The use of multiorifice catheters should also be considered.^16,17

Those units conducting functional neurosurgery or surgery for correction of scoliosis, other relevant spinal surgery, or surgery for some cranial lesions (e.g. cerebellopontine angle tumours) should have the appropriate equipment and adequate numbers of trained staff for intraoperative neurophysiological testing. Neuroanaesthetists should be aware of the implications of this testing for anaesthesia, including blood pressure management, use of neuromuscular blockade...

Equipment for safe positioning of patients with a wide range of body habitus should include:

• appropriately sized mattresses
• positioning aids to minimise risk of eye injury, nerve injury as well as skin damage (e.g. pressure sores) during potentially prolonged operations
• fixings to prevent accidental movement during the procedure.

Equipment to monitor patient temperature and to provide targeted temperature management should be available.²⁰

Availability of a cell salvage system should be considered for procedures associated with a risk of blood loss greater than 500 ml or exceeding 25% of circulating volume.^21,22,23 Staff who operate this equipment should receive training in how to operate it and should use it frequently to maintain their skills.

The department should consider having a mobile phone available to staff for transfers of brain-injured patients.⁴ The transferring team should have access to mobile phones with the relevant contact details during the transfer to enable them to communicate with the receiving unit if required.