Royal College of Anaesthetists

The College will be closed from 5pm today, Tuesday 24 December and will reopen at 9am on Thursday 2 January 2025. Best wishes to all our members and fellows for the festive season.

Who are your role models? Has a trainer or colleague given you outstanding support? Who are those hidden gems? Dr Sarah Thornton, Chair of our Nominations Committee asks you to recognise the achievements of those who have inspired you. Find out about our honours, awards and prizes 👇 https://ow.ly/Pe4g50UvPNJ

We are currently searching for a Conference, Events and Partnership Manager to join our Education and Events team. The role will also be responsible for standalone projects that deliver innovation and improvement to team processes, event programmes and educational content. This role works as a collaborative team player delivering an informative and exciting programme that educates Anaesthetists at every stage of their career. Use the link below to find out more: https://lnkd.in/eVbDCdsi

Join us for our flagship conference #Anaesthesia2025 Belfast & online 20-22 May 2025 The conference theme is 'impact'. Topics will include: 🔹 Human factors 🔹 Perioperative care 🔹 Regional anaesthesia 🔹 Balancing risks 🔹 Airway 🔹 Vulnerable patients 🔹 Impact of clinical anaesthesia 🔹 The troubles in Northern Ireland Book before 31 Dec & save 20%. https://ow.ly/tTou50UoXyE #anaesthesia #anesthesiology Visit Belfast

We are currently searching for a Faculties Department Coordinator (Faculty of Pain Medicine and Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine). They will be responsible for matters relating to educational activities (events, courses, e-Learning, and sponsoring), membership, and engagement projects. This role has responsibility for the department’s e-communications (websites and social media) and design. If you would like to apply use the link below: https://lnkd.in/eczNvAZZ

The College is pleased to confirm that the following candidates have been elected, with terms of office commencing in March 2025. Consultants: 🔹 Dr Helgi Johannson 🔹 Dr Kirsty MacLennan 🔹 Dr Emily Simpson 🔹 Dr Chris Till The SAS vacancy was uncontested. Dr Kirstin May was duly elected. Full results: https://ow.ly/LfP550Ulu7R

✔️ Don't forget to vote! Voting for election to Council closes tomorrow at noon. Successful candidates will take up their positions in March 2025. There are 4 vacancies and 11 candidates. Full details: https://ow.ly/h94m50UjLN0

This week the College responded to the government’s consultation on the 10-Year Health Plan.  We’re calling for a commitment to address the workforce shortages in anaesthesia, as well as supporting better workforce planning, investing in hospital facilities, and encouraging the adoption of perioperative care programmes.  This will enable more operations and procedures to take place each year, cut down NHS waiting lists, and support better surgical outcomes. Read the full response: https://ow.ly/QjbP50UjUwF

At the Winter Symposium last week HRH The Princess Royal presented awards for outstanding achievements in the field of anaesthesia. The College Medal for a significant achievement to the College was awarded to Professor William Harrop-Griffiths and Dr Neil McGuire. The Dudley Buxton Prize for meritorious work in anaesthesia was presented to Dr Bernard Liban. The President’s Commendation for a sustained contribution to the College was presented to Dr Rana Hafiz Ur Rehman. Dr Ari Ercole gave the Macintosh Professor Lecture. Seen here with President Dr Claire Shannon and Professor Iain Moppett.

The Anaesthetic Workforce 2024/UK State of the Nation Report is out now, providing a comprehensive overview of the anaesthetic workforce.     Although numbers of consultant and SAS anaesthetists in the UK rose from 10,149 in 2020 to 10,628 in 2022, demand has increased further. Numbers are 15% lower than what is needed, with a shortfall of around 1,900 anaesthetists across the UK.     Anaesthetists are vital to addressing the NHS waiting list crisis because most operations cannot take place without an anaesthetist. But the shortfall is preventing around 1.4 million operations and procedures from taking place per year.     Supply of anaesthetists is constrained by inadequate numbers of training places and poor retention, not a shortage of doctors. This year there were 3,520 applications for 540 core anaesthetic training places and 640 applications for 390 higher training places.      With only 14.23 anaesthetists per 100,000 people, the UK falls behind other high-income European nations such as Germany (37.37) and even some lower-income European nations like Moldova (16.12).     The Government and NHS leaders must develop national plans for specialty training, increase the number of funded anaesthetic training places, improve development opportunities and recognition of SAS doctors and address the causes of poor retention.       The Anaesthetic Workforce: UK State of the Nation Report     https://ow.ly/2q3G50UaHkO