Guidance and resources

The College is committed to setting the highest standards for anaesthesia services and patient care.

Published guidance

Welcome to the Royal College of Anaesthetists

Anaesthesia is the largest single hospital specialty in the NHS. We are the professional body responsible for the specialty throughout the UK.

We're here to support your needs. Find out more about:

Find out more about what we do

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Training and careers
We're responsible for setting recruitment, training and assessment standards. This is how we're able to attract and then support the best doctors from medical schools.
Final FRCA Examinations

Examinations
The Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA) examination tests the knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes required by anaesthetists in training.
Simulation training in anaesthesia

Research
The College supports the funding, development and delivery of high quality healthcare research.

Ways you can support our work

Membership

Membership
We are the third largest medical royal college in the UK by membership. With over 26,000 fellows and members, we represent the three specialties of anaesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine.
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Resources
We keep our fellows and members up-to-date with the latest news from the College and specialty via the Bulletin and regular newsletters as well as providing free access to key academic journals.
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Get involved
We thrive because of our strong and active membership. As we're keen to involve you in our work to help shape future strategy, we've created numerous volunteering roles for fellows and members within the College.

Latest news

The King’s Birthday Honours 2025
Congratulations to members of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine recognised in the King's Birthday Honours. This recognition of our colleagues for their services to the NHS and their specialties is richly deserved.

RCoA response to the Spending Review

The Chancellor's 3% funding increase is welcome but the priority must be to ensure it delivers tangible benefits for patients and improved support for our members and their colleagues who are under increasing pressure.

ACSA re-accreditation for University Hospitals Plymouth
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has been re-accredited under the RCoA Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) scheme.

Upcoming events

RCoA Lets Talk member engagement event logo

Let's Talk
9 July 2025 7.00 - 8.00pm
A free live event for members where you can talk to senior members of the College about anything and everything that affects your membership. 
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Anaesthesia 2026
12 May 2026
Our Anaesthesia 2026 flagship conference will take place in Brighton and online in May 2026 for three days.

Membership provides a variety of benefits to both you as an individual member, but also to the specialty of anaesthesia.

Become a member