Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust receive prestigious Royal College of Anaesthetists award

Published: 28/05/2021

The Anaesthetic department at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been recognised for providing the highest quality of care to their patients.

The hospital has been awarded the prestigious Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) from the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA).

The ACSA accreditation is the RCoA’s peer-reviewed scheme that promotes quality improvement and the highest professional standards of anaesthetic service. To receive accreditation, anaesthetic departments are expected to demonstrate high standards in areas such as patient experience, patient safety and clinical leadership.

The Anaesthetic teamwork across the hospital and provide anaesthesia services for all types of surgery, labour delivery suites, pre-operative assessments, pain services and are in charge of the Intensive Care Unit that looks after the most critically unwell patients in the hospital.

Dr Maria Garside, Consultant Anaesthetist Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and ACSA Lead at said:

 "We are absolutely delighted and incredibly proud to see Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ name included on the Royal College of Anaesthetists’ website as one of their accredited trusts.

“Less than 25 per cent of all the 172 anaesthetic departments across UK hospitals have secured this award and it demonstrates the very high standards our anaesthesia service places on quality and safety.

“We had to meet a mammoth 140+ standards and it’s taken us just over two years to achieve this accreditation - as the project’s completion was delayed due to the pandemic – but it’s a day to celebrate as colleagues strive to provide outstanding care to the people of Bradford.”

“I would like to say a special thank you to my colleagues Dr Ian Johnson, Dr Jason Walker and Dr Linda Warnock for their assistance with coordinating this project.”

Ray Smith, Chief Medical Officer at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:

Achieving successful ACSA Accreditation is the culmination of more than two years’ work and puts Bradford Teaching Hospitals at the forefront of best practice at a national level.

“The scope of the accreditation extends beyond anaesthesia to our operating theatres and to every aspect of the perioperative journey, assuring the very highest quality care for our patients.

“Maria’s personal leadership role in this achievement has been outstanding. I am delighted for her and for all of the wider anaesthetic and operating theatre teams.”

Professor Ravi Mahajan, President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, said:

“I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the entire anaesthetic department on achieving ACSA accreditation. It is richly deserved and demonstrates their commitment to providing the best possible care for their patients.

“It was fantastic to see the many innovative practices taking place at Bradford Teaching Hospitals which helps them keep patients as the primary focus and deliver excellent flexibility to match patient’s needs.

“As well as meeting the standards, the department demonstrated many areas of excellent advanced practice that have now been highlighted for sharing through the ACSA network.”

Dr Kirti Mukherjee, Royal College of Anaesthetists ACSA lead reviewer, said:

"I am very pleased that Bradford has achieved accreditation following the ACSA visit. This is a great achievement on the part of the department covering a wide geographical area across the hospital site.

“I would like to offer congratulations on behalf of the review team and thank the ACSA Lead and Clinical Director along with all the departmental colleagues who worked extremely hard with a wonderful unified approach and demonstrated a great commitment and engagement to meet the high standards set by the College. The accreditation is richly deserved. Well done.”