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

Support for a College of Intensive Care Medicine
The Royal College of Anaesthetists is pleased to support the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine in its transition to an independent College of Intensive Care Medicine, planned for July 2026.

College Awards Winter 2025
We are pleased to announce the award winners from the last meeting of the Nominations Committee held on 9 January 2025.

RCoA response to decision to abolish NHSE
These reforms mark a significant change in how the NHS will be run across England. While we await further detail, we hope these structural changes are successful in delivering improvements in patient care and better support for NHS staff.

Upcoming events

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Anaesthesia 2025
Our Anaesthesia 2025 flagship conference will take place in Belfast and online in May 2025 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