Welcome to the Congenital Cardiac Anaesthesia Section of the ACTACC website

Anaesthesia for patients with congenital heart disease is generally recognised to be a particular subspecialty area of expertise, and practitioners invariably obtain specialist training, in addition to their core anaesthetics training, should they wish to pursue a career in this subspecialty.

Congenital cardiac anaesthetists fall into three broad categories:

  • Those with a pure paediatric anaesthetic practice
  • Those with a pure adult practice
  • Those who anaesthetise patients of all ages

Congenital cardiac anaesthetists in any given Level 1 CHD Centre (L1 CHDC) are generally encouraged and supported to ensure they obtain all the necessary training – including fellowship(s) where appropriate - prior to consultant appointment. Often this will supplement the training and experienced obtained in anaesthetising adult patients with acquired heart disease, which makes up the much greater proportion of cardiac anaesthetic work across the NHS, including that experienced during trainee programmes. Fellowships may provide the opportunity to develop additional skills such as in transoesophageal echocardiography, mechanical support, transplantation, cardiac intensive care and so on.

There are eleven Level 1 NHS paediatric CHD Centres, of which the following have also have physically co-located adult cardiac surgery: Southampton, Bristol, Evelina, Brompton, Leeds, Newcastle.  Although not physically co-located, Leicester provides Level 1 CHD services for both adults and children.

Fellowships in paediatric/congenital cardiac anaesthesia are currently available at Great Ormond Street, Evelina, Leicester, Alder Hey and Newcastle.

There are several recent papers looking at training in paediatric cardiac anaesthesia of which this is the most recent: Wilkinson K, Taylor D, Murphy T. Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia Training and Staffing in the National Health Service. Pediatr Anesth. 2023; 33: 1029-1033. doi: 10.1111/pan.14729

The approximately eighty NHS paediatric cardiac anaesthetists are affiliated with the Congenital Cardiac Anaesthesia Network (CCAN).  This is going through a process of increasing organisation with office holders (Dr Dan Taylor at Evelina Children’s Hospital is the current Chair of the group), an annual scientific meeting (usually held at the same time as the BCCA annual meeting) and some successful/ongoing research, publication and audit projects.  There is regular communication amongst the CCAN representatives for each paediatric Level 1 CHD Centre.

We have built an affiliation with CCAS, our US counterpart organisation

We are also looking at building and developing links amongst all the NHS congenital cardiac anaesthetists (ie those with both paediatric/adult/mixed practices) through the Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and Critical Care.

Finally, many anaesthetists with a paediatric CHD anaesthetic practice are members of the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists

Those with a CHD anaesthetic practice at a L1 CHDC are regularly asked for advice and support regarding adult or paediatric patients with significant CHD undergoing non-cardiac surgery.  Some CHD networks have specific advice regarding the importance of understanding the significance and relevance of CHD in the setting of anaesthesia for non-cardiac surgery.  Examples are below


Additional links