All anaesthetic equipment should be standardised where possible in all areas providing anaesthetic services, including equipment for resuscitation and life support, and such equipment subject to a standardised programme of maintenance.
All staff should be provided with opportunities to familiarise themselves with all equipment by the attendance at documented formal training sessions.
Equipment standards where anaesthesia is planned, including with controlled ventilation, should replicate the facilities available in the main theatre suites as outlined in Chapter 2: Guidelines for the Provision of Anaesthesia Services for the Perioperative Care of Elective and Urgent Care Patients and commensurate with local hospital anaesthetic facilities.19
All anaesthetic equipment should be checked before use in accordance with the Association of Anaesthetists published guidelines.12 Anaesthetic machine checks should be recorded in a log and on the anaesthetic chart.
All procedures should be compliant with National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPs) and the Safe Surgery Checklist.13,14 An appropriate ‘pre list check’ of the anaesthesia systems, facilities, equipment, supplies and resuscitation equipment should be performed prior to the start of each list.
Wherever anaesthesia or sedation is undertaken, a full range of emergency drugs including specific reversal agents such as naloxone, sugammadex and flumazenil should be made available.
In remote locations where anaesthesia is undertaken, drugs to treat rare situations, such as dantrolene for malignant hyperthermia, or intralipid for local anaesthetic toxicity should be immediately available and located in a designated area.
