Bulletin Magazine: Spring 2026

This year's training issue is out now, and we've made all articles open access with no login. We hope you enjoy the issue.

Read here

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.
New exams panel

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
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

New guidance on sterile gown use during anaesthesia
New international consensus guidelines on the use of sterile gowns when performing single-shot spinal anaesthesia have been published today in the journal Anaesthesia by leading anaesthetic organisations from the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

One in five anaesthetists planning to leave NHS
A new report from the RCoA warns that urgent action is needed to train, support and retain anaesthetic staff across the NHS.

Nominations Committee announce awards
We are delighted to announce details of the awards from the January 2026 meeting of the RCoA Nominations Committee.

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

Become a member