Anaesthesia Associate

Entry requirements

Applicants are required to successfully obtain a job post as a trainee Anaesthesia Associate within a trust, who then put names forward to be enrolled onto the programme. Trusts usually advertise for these positions from May onwards. This can differ between trusts depending on when funding is secured. Trusts that advertise change year on year.

The programme is open to applicants from two different routes:

1. Registered health care practitioners (eg, nurses, operating department practitioners) require one or both of the following:

• At least three years’ full-time, post-qualification work experience in a relevant area.
• A first degree in a health-related subject

2. New entrants to health care (graduates or graduate equivalent) require:

• A biomedical science or biological science background
• Preferably a second-class Honours degree or better, or other evidence of recent and successful academic activity
• A demonstrable commitment to a career in health care

Months of entry

October

Course content

This programme is intended for existing health care practitioners or graduates with a science background who wish to work as part of the anaesthetic team.

This programme will develop a practitioner role that enables the anaesthesia team to have more staff working differently. Presently in the UK only doctors who have had specialist training in anaesthesia can administer anaesthetics.

The Anaesthesia Associate is a health professional who will expand the anaesthetic service and make operating theatres work more efficiently. You will work alongside other members of the anaesthetic team and under the supervision of your anaesthetist.

The programme is studied over 27 months full-time which includes 24 months of academic study and clinical training, followed by 3 months of supervised practice.

Students who have satisfactorily completed the 120 taught credits of the Postgraduate Diploma: Anaesthesia Associate will have the option of transferring to the Anaesthesia Associate MSc Programme. Award of the MSc will require the completion of an additional 60 credit Dissertation module, which would take the form of a research project of their own choosing. Please contact the programme coordinator for more details.