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All patients should have a named and documented supervisory consultant anaesthetist who has overall responsibility for the care of the patient.^44,45 A suitably trained and experienced staff grade, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctor could be the named anaesthetist on the anaesthetic record if local governance arrangements have agreed in advance that the individual doctor can take...

An appropriately trained and experienced anaesthetist should be present throughout the conduct of anaesthesia for all procedures, including those procedures requiring intravenous sedation (where provision of this service has been agreed by the anaesthetic department). In exceptional circumstances, for example, where urgent treatment for another patient requires the anaesthetist to leave the patient, they should delegate responsibility to another appropriate...

An appropriately trained and experienced anaesthetist should be present throughout the conduct of anaesthesia for all procedures, including those procedures requiring intravenous sedation (where provision of this service has been agreed by the anaesthetic department). In exceptional circumstances, for example, where urgent treatment for another patient requires the anaesthetist to leave the patient, they should delegate responsibility to another appropriate...

All patients requiring anaesthesia, pain management, or perioperative medical or intensive care should have a named and documented supervisory autonomously practising anaesthetist (see Glossary) who has overall responsibility for the care of the patient. To ensure the safety of patients, anaesthetists in training, staff grade, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors who are not autonomously practising and anaesthesia associates...

The emergency team should be led by an autonomously practising anaesthetist (see Glossary) and include other healthcare professionals involved in the delivery of anaesthesia for emergency surgery, including other departments such as radiology, medicine and emergency departments.³  Hospitals should consider developing teams of anaesthetists, surgeons and perioperative physicians with particular interest and expertise in high-risk emergency surgery.⁹⁰

A ‘block room’ utilising a parallel processing method is a cost-effective model for providing regional anaesthesia in a theatre environment. Staffing numbers may be determined locally depending on how many beds are in the block room but there should be sufficient numbers of trained staff to both assist the anaesthetist and monitor patients. Staffing in the block room should be...