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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.

Departments should have a workforce plan in line with their overall strategy and annual business plan that includes recruitment, opportunities for flexible working and staff retention.  The plan should ensure a level of staffing and skill mix that meets current service and educational requirements with sufficient flexibility to ensure staff are not overstretched. It should be reviewed regularly and consider...

The lead obstetric anaesthetist should be responsible for the overall delivery of the service, including:

• ensuring that evidence based guidelines and protocols are in use and are up to date
• monitoring staff training
• workforce planning
• service risk management
• ensuring that national specifications are met
• auditing the service against agreed standards, including anaesthetic complication rates, as set out in the RCoA ...

A difficult intubation trolley with a variety of laryngoscopes including video laryngoscopes, tracheal tubes (size 7 and smaller), second-generation supraglottic airway devices, equipment for emergency front of neck and other aids for difficult airway management should be available in theatre. Videolaryngoscope should always be available. The difficult intubation trolley should have a standard layout that is identical to trolleys in other parts of...

Anaesthetists should be familiar with the specific needs of patients with cancer, including the following:

• the adverse effects of high concentrations of oxygen in the presence of some antineoplastic agents, for example bleomycin, and should adjust their technique accordingly.[i]^,[ii] Recent evidence confirms the association between unnecessarily high intraoperative fraction of inspired oxygen and increased risk of...

Where ophthalmic surgery is performed as a daycase procedure, the facilities should conform to best practice guidance. Day surgery operating theatres should meet the same standards as inpatient operating theatres.^24,25,26 Room should be available for patients to be seen in private by the anaesthetist and surgeon on the day of surgery.²There should...