• A M Qureshi, M Stevens, and F Plaat.
• Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Imperial School of Medicine, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0HS, UK.
• Anaesthesia. 2003 Jun 1;58(6):578-82.

AbstractIn order to determine the current level of support provided to anaesthetists on the labour suite, a postal questionnaire was sent to the lead consultants of the 257 obstetric units in England and Wales. One hundred and ninety-five replied, a response rate of 76%. Of those who replied, only 1% of units experienced frequent delays to elective obstetric lists due to lack of an anaesthetic assistant and 141 units (72%) had a designated assistant for the labour ward. However, 58 units experienced delays waiting for an anaesthetic assistance in emergency situations (29%). One hundred and sixty-eight units (86%) had an operating department practitioner/nurse (ODP/N) resident on call for the hospital, but not exclusively for the maternity unit. In 76% of units, midwives assisted the anaesthetist when inserting regional blocks in labour. More than one-third of respondents thought that it would be appropriate to have a dedicated ODP/N resident on call for the labour ward who would also assist with labour analgesia blocks.

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