In an emergency situation involving a child requiring anaesthesia for an airway or head and neck procedure, the most experienced available anaesthetist and surgeon would be expected to provide life-saving care when transfer to a specialist facility is not feasible.
General anaesthesia for dental procedures should be administered only by anaesthetists in a hospital setting as defined by the Department of Health report reviewing general anaesthesia and conscious sedation in primary dental care.3
Hospitals should consider appointing a lead anaesthetist for diabetes. Organisations should ensure that staff involved with caring for patients with diabetes have access to and complete regular training.183
In an emergency situation involving a child requiring anaesthesia for an airway or head and neck procedure, the most experienced available anaesthetist and surgeon would be expected to provide life-saving care when transfer to a specialist facility is not feasible.
It is important that local reporting systems should feed into national reporting systems, where relevant.95 Anaesthetists should contribute data as required, with the support of their organisation.
Local policies should be in place to define the scope of intraoperative monitoring by non-anaesthetist health care workers. These policies should meet the criteria proposed by RA-UK.16
Hospitals should consider providing specific regional anaesthesia lists for awake procedures, staffed by an anaesthetist with a special interest in regional anaesthesia. However, alternative lists for patients unable or unwilling to undergo awake surgery should be available.
All anaesthetists must be aware of the potential benefits and risks of regional anaesthesia and be able to discuss these options with patients where appropriate as part of an individual patient anaesthetic management plan.46
