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Anaesthetists should be aware of legislation and good practice guidance^77,78,79 relevant to children and according to the location in the UK.^80,81,82,83 These documents refer to the rights of the child, child protection processes and consent.

An anaesthetic office, within five minutes from the delivery suite, should be available to the duty anaesthetic team. The room should have a computer with intra/internet access for access to specialist reference material and local multidisciplinary evidence based guidelines and policies. The office space, facilities and furniture should comply with the standards recommended by the Association of Anaesthetists guidelines.^67...

All anaesthetists must undertake at least level 2 training in safeguarding/child protection,⁵⁷ and must maintain this level of competence by annual updates of current policy and practice and case discussion.⁵⁸ Safeguarding resources to support learning can be found on the RCoA website (www.rcoa.ac.uk/safeguardingplus).

Local protocols should determine the grade, experience and competency based training of non-anaesthetist healthcare professionals undertaking preoperative assessments.⁴⁶ In addition , all members of the team including administrative, managerial and clinical staff who interact with the patient preoperatively should have skills in motivational interviewing and preoperative optimisation.^47,48 Courses such as ‘Making Every Contact Count’ may be helpful.

In non-specialist paediatric tertiary centres, having visiting consultant paediatric anaesthetists from specialist tertiary paediatric centres to attend operating lists to provide education and training updates should be considered. These may be part of the arrangements in place within a children’s surgery ODN. The Certificate of Fitness for Honorary Practice may facilitate such placements and provides a relatively simple system for...

An anaesthetic office, located within five minutes’ walk of the delivery suite, should be available to the duty anaesthetic team. The room should have a computer with intra/internet access to specialist reference material and local multidisciplinary evidence based guidelines and policies. The office space, facilities and furniture should comply with the Association of Anaesthetists' standards.⁸¹ This office could...

Consultant or autonomously practising anaesthetists intending to undertake anaesthesia for cardiac surgery should have received training to a higher level in cardiac anaesthesia for a minimum of one year in recognised training centres.⁴³ Those providing critical care for cardiothoracic surgical patients should have received training as described by the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (see Cardiothoracic Critical Care, Guidelines...

Consultant or autonomously practising anaesthetists intending to deliver anaesthesia for thoracic surgery should have received training to a higher level in thoracic anaesthesia. This should be undertaken as a Special Interest Area in Stage 3 training for a period of 3 - 6 months in a recognised training centre.³⁶ Those providing critical care for cardiothoracic surgical patients should...

Anaesthetists should participate in departmental audit and quality improvement projects, using specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) methodology (see Glossary) and consideration of full audit cycles (e.g. plan, do, study, act). This participation should adhere to the standards and principles outlined in the College’s Raising the Standards: RCoA Quality Improvement Compendium.⁵

In isolated units where no anaesthetist or medical emergency team is immediately available, there should be at least one person with advanced life-support training or equivalent.^2,9 A clear and agreed pathway should be in place for isolated units to enable the patient to receive appropriate advanced medical care, including intensive care, in the event of it...