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SAS doctors and trainees should be encouraged to engage in leadership opportunities.

Departments should have a workforce plan in line with their overall strategy and annual business plan that includes recruitment, opportunities for flexible working and staff retention.  The plan should ensure a level of staffing and skill mix that meets current service and educational requirements with sufficient flexibility to ensure staff are not overstretched. It should be reviewed regularly and consider...

Departments should ensure that they have the appropriate skill mix for their various clinical activities and that this mix is maintained through appropriate developmental opportunities for their staff.¹⁷

Departments should ensure that they undertake succession planning reviews regularly to minimise the risk of disruption to clinical and non-clinical activity when key personnel leave, retire or change their job plans. Those taking on new roles should have time allocated to allow for a sufficient period of handover with those they replace.

Opportunities for clinical colleagues to develop skills in non-clinical areas including teaching, mentoring and coaching, examining, research, audit and quality improvement, committee work and leadership and management should be supported, transparent, equitably balanced across the department and incorporated into departmental plans.^18.19

Appropriate time should be allocated for non-clinical roles and the department as a whole should have sufficient funding for appropriate remuneration of those undertaking non-clinical roles as required to deliver departmental plans.^5,13

Senior and experienced SAS doctors should be given the opportunity to take on additional roles within the department.^20,42

The hospital should have mechanisms in place to support SAS doctors who aspire to achieve a Certificate of Eligibility for Special Registration (CESR), or advance their career in other ways, for example an educational supervisor who has knowledge of the necessary processes.  SAS doctors who are preparing for CESR should have this recognised in their job plans and departments should...

A support system and guidelines developed in conjunction with occupational health professionals should be in place to help anaesthetists returning to clinical work after a period of absence from clinical practice.^{21, 22} These could include, but are not limited to, returning after parental leave, or returning following long-term illness.²³

Departments should have an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policy, strategy or vision in place which develops the organisation-wide strategy appropriate to the department and anaesthetic service. This should be available to all staff and regularly reviewed in light of ongoing experience and effectiveness.