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Anaesthetists should be given support and time to familiarise themselves with non theatre locations and local working arrangements, e.g. during induction sessions.^25,156

Hospitals should provide scheduled local anaesthesia lists, using a dedicated area for initiating and assessing local nerve blocks. Organising cases in this way fosters the development and maintenance of expertise in the anaesthetists and support staff and minimises delay between cases.

For children, a staff member with an advanced paediatric life support qualification or an anaesthetist with paediatric competencies should be immediately available.^31,32

There should be sufficient time before an operation for the anaesthetist to conduct a satisfactory preoperative assessment. If this does not happen, it is possible that surgery may be delayed or postponed. The provision of a good preoperative assessment and preparation process should minimise this.

An appropriately skilled and experienced resident anaesthetist should be available at all times to care for postoperative and emergency patients. The experience and skills necessary to provide this cover are not usually found in training grades below ST3.⁵

Patients requiring burn or plastic surgery procedures should be managed by anaesthetists who have an appropriate level of training in this field, have regular commitment to the burn and plastic surgery specialty, and have acquired the relevant knowledge and skills needed to care for these patients.

Hospitals should provide scheduled local anaesthetic lists, using a dedicated area for initiating and assessing local nerve blocks. Organising cases in this way fosters the development and maintenance of expertise in the anaesthetists and support staff, and minimises delay between cases.

Cardiac and thoracic anaesthesia is a ‘key unit of training’ for intermediate level training in anaesthesia.⁶¹ Trainee anaesthetists should be of appropriate seniority to be able to benefit from this area of training.