Search

There should be a named lead consultant for the PACU.¹⁷²

Processes for the communication and implementation of patient safety alerts should be in place.

All members of the anaesthetic team should receive non-clinical training and education, which should be reflected in job plans and job planning. This might include a locally arranged list of topics – for example, fire safety, consent, infection control, blood product administration, mental capacity, safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, communication skills. Some of this will be mandatory under the legislation...

All trainees must be appropriately clinically supervised at all times.⁵⁰

All patients undergoing anaesthesia should be under the care of a consultant anaesthetist whose name is recorded as part of the anaesthetic record. A staff grade, associate specialist and specialty doctors (SAS) anaesthetist could be the named anaesthetist on the anaesthetic record if local governance arrangements have agreed in advance that, based on the training and experience of the individual...

Departments of anaesthesia should ensure that a named supervisory consultant is available to all non-consultant anaesthetists (except those SAS anaesthetists that local governance arrangements have agreed in advance are able to work in those circumstances without consultant supervision) based on the training and experience of the individual doctor and the range and scope of their clinical practice.⁵¹ Where an...

There should be induction programmes for all new members of staff, including locums. Induction for a locum doctor should include familiarisation with the layout of the hospital and the location of emergency equipment and drugs, access to guidelines and protocols, information on how to summon support/assistance, and assurance that the locum is capable of using the equipment in that hospital...

Hospitals should have a clear and explicit strategy for developing a strong safety culture that includes the following characteristics: recognition of the inevitability of errors, commitment to discuss and learn from errors, proactive identification of latent threats, and the incorporation of non-punitive systems for reporting and analysing adverse events.^56,57

Hospitals should review their local standards to ensure that they are harmonised with the relevant national safety standards, e.g. National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures in England or the Scottish Patient Safety Programme in Scotland.⁵⁸ Organisational leaders are ultimately responsible for implementing local safety standards as necessary.²

There should be a reception desk and receptionist to meet and greet patients as they arrive in a preoperative preparation clinic. They can ensure the patient’s attendance is registered and that the patient is directed to the appropriate member of staff or to a waiting area.