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Any non trainee anaesthetist who undertakes anaesthetic duties in the labour ward should have been assessed as competent to perform these duties in accordance with RCoA guidelines.²⁰

Anaesthetists who primarily work on the labour ward during the night should be given opportunities to work on the labour ward during the daytime on weekdays.²⁵

Any anaesthetist working on the labour ward should also regularly undertake non-obstetric work to ensure maintenance of a broad range of skills.

All staff working on the delivery suite should have annual resuscitation training, including the specific challenges of pregnant women.⁹¹

Anaesthetists should contribute to the education and updating of midwives, anaesthesia assistants, obstetricians and intensive care staff involved in the care of maternity patients.²⁵

Anaesthetists should help to organise and participate in regular multidisciplinary courses and ‘skills and drills’ for emergencies.^{8,25,88,129,130,131}

A system should be in place to ensure that those requiring antenatal and postnatal anaesthetic referral are seen and assessed by a senior obstetric anaesthetist, usually an autonomously practising anaesthetist, within a suitable time frame. Where the workload is high, consideration should be given to risk stratification so that not all women are required to attend in person, by using...

An anaesthetist should be included in the MDT antenatal management planning for those with complex medical needs.³ Planning should be in the form of shared decision making and include consideration of the woman’s wishes and preferences.^136,137

All pregnant women requiring caesarean birth should, except in an extreme emergency, be visited and assessed by an anaesthetist before arrival in the operating theatre. This should allow sufficient time to weigh up the information to give informed consent for anaesthesia.¹³⁷

There should be a local guideline on monitoring of women after regional anaesthesia and the management of postanaesthetic neurological complications.