About the Anaesthesia department

The Anaesthesia department at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) provides world-class anaesthetic services for all surgical specialties within the hospital, in addition to 24-hour on-call emergency cover.Many children undergo surgical procedures at the forefront of current practice or require procedures that extend the boundaries of what is thought to be possible. All of this is done with a patient population in whom rare genetic and structural conditions are commonplace.

There are 30 consultants in the department. Each specialist anaesthetises around 650 children each year. We also play a leading role in education and training.

Trainee paediatric anaesthetists from local centres as well as all over the world come to our department. They are attracted by the opportunity to work with highly trained specialists caring for a unique patient population, to participate in innovative research and to benefit from our active interest in developing their additional interests. We also run a number of specialist courses based both at GOSH and in external centres, including developing countries.

In addition to specialist anaesthetic care, the department includes a world leading pain unit delivering both clinical care and academic output that is at the pinnacle of the specialist field.

The aims of the department are to:

• provide high quality anaesthesia and pain control to all our patients

• provide a unique training experience for our trainees

• promote on-going research into paediatric anaesthesia and pain control

• foster national and international links between paediatric anaesthetic departments

• offer visitors both clinical and observer placements to update their skills