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Anaesthetists treating children and young people must ensure that they understand the requirements for consent in the part of the UK in which they are working.^55,57,58,59

All anaesthetists working in the maternity unit should have received training in human factors, addressing key factors including situational awareness, effective teamworking and communication, decision making and the effect of biases.^133,134

There is a high incidence of ‘awareness’ under sedation and subsequent post-traumatic stress. The anaesthetist should obtain informed consent from the patent before any sedation is administered. This includes using descriptions of levels of sedation from the patient’s perspective.⁸⁸

AAs should always work within an anaesthesia team led by a consultant or other autonomously practising anaesthetist who has overall responsibility for the anaesthesia care provided for the patient and whose name should be recorded in the individual patient’s medical notes.¹¹⁸

There should be a named anaesthetist clinical lead (see glossary) for recovery.¹⁰

An anaesthetist should be present at all times while the patient is anaesthetised.¹⁰²

There should be sufficient programmed activity time available for anaesthetists to assess patients perioperatively and attend multidisciplinary ward rounds.

Equipment to comply with the Association of Anaesthetists standards for anaesthetic monitoring should be available.²³

Wherever sedation services for paediatric burn management exist, anaesthetists should be involved with setting up, monitoring and auditing the service.

Every obstetric unit should have a designated lead anaesthetist (see glossary) with specific programmed activities allocated for this role.