The anaesthetics directorate is one of the largest in the North West of England, employing 48 consultant anaesthetists. Its core role is to deliver all types of anaesthesia (spinal, general, regional and local), for all specialities. There is also a separate multi-disciplinary pain management service.
The department has been innovative in embracing current developments in anaesthesia, intensive care medicine and in supporting the increasing challenges of more complex surgical procedures, especially in the aging population. The anaesthetic department has an increasing role in the development of peri-operative medicine which maximises the patient condition in the peri-operative period; especially in the role of enhanced recovery in complex cases.
The department covers:
- Pre-operative assessment
- Optimisation of patients prior to complex surgical procedures
- Post-operative Care Unit/Intensive Care Unit
- High Dependency Unit
- Enhanced recovery
The department provides leads for the regional and sub-regional vascular and hepato-biliary surgical departments. This well organised unit also has leads in clinical sub-specialities:
- Acute pain
- Paediatics
- Respiratory
- Critical Care Unit
- Pre-operative assessement
- Trauma
- Maxillo-facial
- Community dental
- Enhanced recovery
- Tracheostomy care
- Acute pain management
- ENT
- Obstetrics
- Orthopaedics
- Trauma
- Maternity
- Emergency
- Regional anaesthesia.
The department has strong educational links with examiners for the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA examination), the Regional advisor for Intensive Care Medicine (ICM), ELHT Foundation Year Programme lead, College tutors (obstetrics, ICM), Critical Care Network lead, educational and clinical supervisors. There is a lead for Practical Obstetric Multiprofessional Training (PROMPT), an initiative to reduce morbidity in child birth. Anaesthetists have been involved in ATLS training for many years.
Audit and governance (local, regional and national) are well supported with leads for the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC), National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD), and critical care audit.
There has been a drive to optimise patients before undergoing surgery. The pre-operative assessment unit undertakes the investigations necessary prior to surgery and seeks involvement from the anaesthetic consultants if further assessement is necessary. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET/CPEX) is a development physiologically optimising ill patients prior to major surgery. Focused intensive care echocardiography (FICE) is another imaging technique useful in the assessment of patients on the Critical Care Unit (CCU). Post surgery, enhanced recovery programmes have reduced inpatient stay following complex surgery, especially for abdominal and orthopaedic cases.
The CCU in the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital is a high volume unit when judged nationally with more than 1600 admissions per year. It acts as a regional CCU in the care of complex hepato-pancreatic-biliary surgery and pancreatitis.
Clinical Director
- Dr S J Clarke
Critical Care
- Dr S J Gilligan
- Dr M Atkinson
- Dr S J Clarke
- Dr S Chukkambotla
- Dr I Crossingham
- Dr P Dean
- Dr A Krige
- Dr H Makin
- Dr P McDermott
- Dr C Pilkington (PT)
- Dr J Roberts
- Dr D Sebastian
- Dr R Shawcross
- Dr I Stanley
- Dr D A Watson
- Dr J Watts
General
- Dr S J Clarke
- Dr I Clegg
- Dr T Clarke
- Dr S Dick
- Dr R Emmott
- Dr A K Grady
- Dr A Mathew
- Dr C Middleton
- Dr H Simmons
- Dr A Kurvey
- Dr S R Price
- Dr A Shannon
- Dr I Simionescu
- Dr L O’Neil
- Dr J Heaps
- Dr S Monks
Obstetrics
- Dr C Calow
- Dr K Beresford
- Dr K Butler
- Dr Chandrasekar
- Dr N Iqbal
- Dr D Joseph
- Dr S Kumar
- Dr M Pollard
- Dr A Nelhubel
- Dr R Patel
- Dr D P Trotter
- Dr E Van der Heiden
- Dr J Lie
Research is actively encouraged and the department has been awarded regional prizes for their research, including at the Manchester Medical Society. Nationally, there have been numerous national presentations at anaesthetic conferences from:
- ICU
- Obstetrics
- Colorectal surgery
- Regional anaesthesia
- Abdominal surgery
- Sepsis.
There are strong links with the National Insitute for Health Research (NIHR). The department is very active in NIHR multi-centre studies in anaesthesia and critical care.
The Associate Medical Director for Research and Development at ELHT is an anaesthetist and there is also a departmental research lead. The Research and Development department is successful in assessing and validating research in ELHT. Major grants have been awarded from NIHR for the TERSC study and the patient benefit grant.
Other research related posts include:
- Board member of the UCLAN CTU
- Lead NIHR GM CRN Anaethesia
- Peri-operative medicine and Pain speciality group
- Board member UK Peri-operative Medicine Clinical Trials Network
- Peri-operative Medicine Advisory Group (Royal College of Anaesthetists)
Other research links include:
- Board member of the UCLAN Clinic trials unit
- Board member of the UK Perioperative Medicine Advisory Group (Royal College of Anaesthetists)
- Lead for the Anaesthetic Speciality Group for the Greater Manchester NIHR Clinical research Network.
The department is also active in the anaesthetic section of the Manchester Medical Society.
Access individual Anaesthetic Consultant research in web sites below
- East Lancashire hospitals NHS Trust at researchgate.com
- Pubmed
- Google scholar
Researchgate (anaesthetic main authors):
Dr A Krige RG 27.49 Dr D Joseph RG 4.87
Dr P Dean RG 8.74 Dr M Atkinson RG 3.88
Dr S Chukkambotha RG 7.62 Dr M Pollard RG 2.51