RCoA demonstrates its commitment to the global health priority of patient safety on World Patient Safety Day 2019

Plan and implement patient Safety projects

• We developed the ‘Cappuccini Test’. This is a simple, six question audit to test whether supervision is adequate for non-consultant grade doctors. It is designed with anaesthetic services in mind, but it is hoped that it will be rolled out to other specialties in the future.

• We developed a video resource: Capnography: No Trace=Wrong Place, alerting colleagues involved in the management of airways to the important message that during cardiac arrest, if a capnography trace is completely flat, oesophageal intubation should be assumed until proven otherwise.

• We are currently writing guidance on safe anaesthesia staffing

• The Safe Anaesthesia Liaison Group manages a number of patient safety projects. Currently the group is working on evaluating and relaunching the ‘Stop Before You Block’ campaign, which aimed to raise awareness of the dangers of wrong site blocks.

Deliver through the  Health Services Research Centre  (HSRC), based at the RCoA a variety of research and clinical audit programmes to drive quality improvement

• We run National Audit Projects (NAPs) which are year-long, service evaluations of anaesthesia-related topics. They evaluate rare, potentially catastrophic events that are not amenable to other types of study.

• We also run Sprint National Anaesthesia Projects (SNAPs) that are short, sharp prospective observational studies of clinical activities and patient centred outcomes on a particular topic.

• We manage the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit, that aims to improve care for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy in the UK, and the Children’s Acute Surgical Abdomen Programme, aiming to improve the quality of care for children undergoing urgent or emergency abdominal surgery.

• We manage the Perioperative Quality Improvement Programme (PQIP), a multidisciplinary initiative supporting local quality improvement to benefit patients undergoing major surgery.

• We have established a network of local Quality Audit and Research Coordinators within every NHS trust to be a single point of contact for national audits, quality improvement projects and multi-centre research.

• The College simulation working group has released a simulation strategy (2018-2023), that outlines the College’s approach to simulation and its role in quality improvement.

• We have established a network of regional simulation leads, to provide support for simulation projects.

• We support the ‘Giving Anaesthesia Safely Again’ (GasAgain) programme of return to work courses. We are in the process of setting up a network of return to work trainers who provide support to anaesthetists in training returning to work after a break (SuppoRTT) in order to provide consistent and effective support for those returning to work in anaesthesia, to refresh their skills and ensure patient safety.

•  In order to improve patient safety, we are promoting and supporting the development of high quality multidisciplinary crisis resource management team training in perioperative care within the local context. We are currently looking for volunteers to be involved in a national working group to improve team-based CRM training and hospitals willing to pilot the new approach. To find out more, please contact Fiona Anderson, Education Administrator.                                      

• We joined 16 other Royal Colleges and medical organisations in writing to the UK Prime Minister, calling for health and patient safety to be at the heart of Brexit negotiations with the with the EU.

• We have joined seven medical Royal Colleges and 11 healthcare organisations in making a commitment to promoting positive attitudes towards rest and wellbeing across the NHS workforce as part of the #FightFatigue campaign.

• Our Guidelines for the Provision of Anaesthetic Services document forms the basis of recommendations produced by the College for anaesthetists with responsibilities for service and for other healthcare managers. It describes the requirements of the provision of a high quality, safe anaesthetic service for patients.

• Our Global Partnerships Strategy highlights how we engage with others to improve patient care cross the world

• We are working with partners to develop the College of East, Central and Southern Africa (CANECSA).  The College which has nine constituent countries (Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe).  As well as helping to develop the institution, we are working to develop a common curricula and assessment system to work across countries.  This will allow the development of the anaesthesiology workforce which is facing significant challenges within the region.  With more trained and competent anaesthetists, patients will be able to access safe and affordable care when it is required.

• We run events throughout the year, on topics relevant to patient safety. The 2019 Winter Symposium will be focussed around the topic of improving patient safety.

• SALG holds an annual patient safety conference, this year the theme for the conference will be safety in paediatric anaesthesia