The College is committed to supporting you to continuously enhance your personal and professional development, and further your career. A range of ways we support you: 

• academic publications: enhance your personal and professional development with free access to the British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA). Fellows and members also receive free access to BJA Education, and its online CPD material
• discounts with relevant organisations: 20% off medical books published by tfm publishing, discounts off selected events organised by the Royal Society of Medicines Hypnosis & Psychosomatic Medicine department. For more information contact the Membership Engagement team, membership@rcoa.ac.uk
• SAS and Specialty doctor support: SAS doctors can email the dedicated email for SAS members at sas@rcoa.ac.uk for support and guidance, and can attend relevant and SAS-focused events 
• revalidation and Continuing Professional Development (CPD): access to a wide range of resources to support you through revalidation including specialty-specific guidance on supporting information requirements and on colleague and
  patient feedback, including a GMC-approved patient questionnaire. Speak to our dedicated revalidation helpdesk for guidance on your particular circumstances including access to a clinician specialty advisor
• access to one of the UK’s largest medical e-learning resources: have access to e-Learning Anaesthesia (e-LA) – one of medicine’s largest interactive online learning resources. If you move abroad and no longer have a NHS email address you can receive a large discount to continue accessing e-LA
• global partnerships: the RCoA is committed to forging and nurturing relationships with doctors and institutions from other countries. The global partnerships department also provides advice to international graduates who wish to work or train in the UK through the Medical Training Initiative (MTI) scheme
• videos: choose when and where to learn with College videos – recorded lectures with corresponding lecture slides, from selected events and courses. Did you know there are over 120 videos available on demand, and you can log these towards your CPD credits
• podcasts: subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audioboom and Spotify to listen to the latest RCoA podcasts featuring highlights from our conferences and events as well as specially recorded conversations with subject experts. All previous episodes can be seen here
• support: receive advice and support from regional advisors anaesthesia and College tutors, who represent the views of the College in relevant matters within your region
• Lifelong Learning Platform: access to our web-based Lifelong Learning Platform, currently incorporates the e-Portfolio for anaesthetists in training with an enhanced version of the CPD Online Diary. and offline logbook functionality to provide a seamless offering supporting members throughout their careers. 

There are ever-changing developments within the specialty and healthcare. With your membership of the College, we support you through:

• educational events: be the first to know about educational events which are constantly updated and enhanced to help you develop your knowledge and skills
• College resources: such as the Bulletin to keep you up-to-date with the latest must-know College developments and news
• President’s News: receive an email update from your President direct to your inbox highlighting the latest news from your College and our specialty
• devolved nations’ newsletters: keep you up-to-date with happenings across our boards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• The Gas Newsletter: for all anaesthetists in training highlighting important training issues

Your College thrives because of our strong membership and we're proud to be the professional home to a combined membership of more than 24,000 Fellows and Members. The College is committed to ensuring we always have the best interest of our members and your patients at the heart of everything we do. To make sure we can do this and work with you to shape future strategy, we are keen to involve you in our work, and provide you with opportunities to volunteer and get involved in the many roles available within the College. There are a variety of ways to have your say or get involved, including:

• input to help shape your College: join the College Membership Engagement Panel to share your thoughts and help shape your College and its focus
• council representation and voting rights: vote, apply and stand for important roles on College Council
• become an examiner: apply to be appointed as an examiner
• become a Regional Advisor: apply to be appointed as a Regional Advisors of Anaesthesia (RAA), deputy RAA or a College Tutor
• represent the College on Advisory Appointment Committees (AAC): apply to be appointed as an AAC assessor
• AGM voting rights: attend, speak and vote at the College annual AGM to make a difference and lead change.

For a full list of ways to get involved, have your say and contribute, please see our Get Involved pages.

We believe it is crucial for our Fellows and Members to have a voice and be heard. We act on behalf of the profession, representing the specialty, as well as involving our membership in our work. 

As part of your membership, you are entitled to:

• council representation: vote, apply and stand for important roles on College Council
• post nominals: have the right to use post-nominals of FRCA (for Fellows) or MRCA (for Members)
• membership verification for FRCA/MRCA free of charge

The College is responsible for nearly 5,000 anaesthetists in training every year. We oversee the extensive training programme to become an anaesthetist and administer the primary and final exams in the UK. As part of this, the College supports all anaesthetists in training with:

• advice and assistance on all examination related matters
• access to FRCA examination guidance interviews
• access to FRCA examination resources for candidates
• advice and guidance for training and a future career (anaesthesia, critical care or pain medicine) from our training team
• receive qualified and experienced guidance and advice from Bernard Johnson advisors (flexible training advisor, global partnerships advisor and academic advisor). For support regarding training contact the training department.

• a 20% discount on room and venue hire at the College
• the College offers a 50% discount to our events for the Senior Fellows and Members Club and a 25% discount for anaesthetists in training. More information is available about membership categories with subscription rates
• use of the College’s Fellows and Members room at the College for when you need peace and quiet to study or just to relax (with free WiFi and refreshments)
• use of the prayer room at the College.

Professional subscriptions are generally accepted by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as being an allowable expense. The College recommends that you ensure that where tax relief is applicable it is obtained.

We are here to help you be the best practitioner you can be, to help you work in the best environment and deliver excellent patient safety.

Guidelines and standards are essential to establish and maintain good anaesthesia clinical practice and high quality service. We regularly review our standards and guidelines to reflect the changing UK healthcare environment.

We aim for the professional standards represented to be current and applicable to all UK public and independent healthcare environments so they may provide clear and concise direction.

We provide you with:

• a voice as a specialty: your views shape how we represent and champion our specialty to influence policy makers and elected representatives in the UK and devolved governments. 
• ACSA updates: access quality improvement materials and resources from your College’s Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) scheme to enhance the service of your anaesthetic department. Extra note: ACSA enables NHS and independent sector organisations quality improvement through peer review – our Fellows and Members receive all of our ACSA promotional material and updates sharing best practice to deliver excellent patient safety
• patient information: access up-to-date and comprehensive patient information resources to inform patients and discuss risk in preoperative assessment
• guidelines (GPAS): use the College’s high quality Guidelines for the Provision of Anaesthetic Services (GPAS) to support the delivery of high standards and quality across the specialty
• information on perioperative medicine: the College is the leading champion of perioperative medicine (POM). Our Fellows and Members are the first to hear about POM news, as the College is the lead for the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC). CPOC is a cross-organisational, multidisciplinary initiative led by the Royal College of Anaesthetists to facilitate cross-organisational working on perioperative care for patient benefit. Also have the opportunity to become a POM local lead for your hospital.

Active participation on workforce issues is a vital part of our work in ensuring safe, high-quality patient care and training environments.

We support you through:

• being the voice of the specialty: your views shape how we represent and champion our specialty to influence policy makers and elected representatives in the UK and devolved governments
• supporting recruitment and retention: supporting active recruitment and retention across the workforce, working a wide range of stakeholders
• surveys: gathering timely, accurate data via regular workforce censuses, research and surveys on the current state of UK anaesthesia workforce.

We understand the transformative potential outcomes of high quality research and so the College works collaboratively through the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia’s (NIAA) Health Services Research Centre (HSRC) to advance and promote research activity. We do this by raising awareness of our specialities’ challenges, enhancing the quality of planned projects and funding research activities. The College is also part of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC).

We support our fellows and members through:

• the opportunity to engage with research: get involved in RCoA-led or endorsed research projects and quality improvement initiatives. Be the first to know about inspiring research opportunities
• NELA support: a dedicated helpdesk and support for The National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) research. Did you know that the NELA report data has been used to enhance patient care saving approximately 300 patients each year during 2015–2017.