Annex 2
Letter from John Carter, Chairman, Safety
Committee (AAGBI) to Kate Glass, Mendip PCT
Thank you for arranging the meeting earlier
this month with you, the lead clinician for the PCT and the nursing
lead and the manager of the SMITC.
As you know from my previous correspondence
I was concerned that as the Treatment Centre was going to be run
on North American lines, the standard of assistance provided to
anaesthetists working in the SMITC would be of a lesser standard
than the Association of Anaesthetists recommends in their guidelines,
and consequently less than that provided in NHS Hospital Trusts.
I was very pleased to have such a full and frank
discussion with all of you, and I was reassured to be told that
you would be employing trained anaesthetic assistants with nationally
recognised qualifications who would be available to assist the
anaesthetist continuously throughout each case. It was also reassuring
to be informed that the clinical governance practices would be
equivalent to those undertaken in NHS hospitals, in particular
audit, critical incident reporting and appraisal.
I have reported back to the executive officers
of the Association of Anaesthetists and we are happy that our
concerns have been discussed, and also with your reassurance that
the standard of assistance provided for the anaesthetists will
be comparable to that required in NHS Hospital Trusts.
17 June 2005
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