Trust achieves prestigious Royal College of Anaesthetists accreditation

The anaesthesia departments at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have achieved Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) from the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA). This significant milestone reflects years of hard work, collaboration, and a shared commitment to delivering the highest standards of care.

The accreditation was formally awarded to the Trust in a special presentation led by RCoA president Dr Claire Shannon at St Mary’s Hospital on Friday 10 January.

ACSA is a highly regarded and nationally recognised quality improvement programme. Anaesthesia departments are assessed against rigorous standards covering all aspects of the surgical patient pathway—from the physical environment to staff training, organisational processes, and patient care. Achieving accreditation involves an external peer review and demonstrates a department’s dedication to excellence.

Journey to Accreditation

The journey began over two years ago and has involved consultants, trainees, and wider multidisciplinary teams across all sites of our Trust. This was a huge undertaking which included aligning policies, updating guidelines, auditing processes, upgrading equipment, and improving both staff and patient facilities – such as an improved admission lounge at Charing Cross Hospital. Coordination across the sites was led by Dr Mark Sacks, with invaluable support from ACSA consultant leads:

  • St Mary’s Hospital: Dr Rachel Freedman, Dr Jenny Illingworth, and Dr Ranil Soysa
  • Charing Cross Hospital: Dr Ian Bailes and Dr Karen Stacey
  • Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital: Dr Ester Avagliano, Dr Scott Kemp, and Dr Gary Stocks

In October 2022, external reviewers from the RCoA conducted an intensive week-long visit to the Trust’s four main sites. They inspected theatres, recovery areas, labour wards, emergency departments, and other areas where anaesthesia is delivered. They interviewed 56 consultants, 30 trainees, nurses, operating department practitioners (ODPs), and managers and were particularly impressed by teams’ organisation and collaboration, the inclusive and supportive culture, commitment to environmental sustainability and initiatives like the ‘Make a Difference’ awards.

The anaesthetic teams worked hard, with support from wider colleagues, to introduce a range of improvements over the next couple of years including: enhanced facilities for admission lounges, day surgery pathways, and on-call teams, upgraded monitors at Charing Cross theatres and recovery areas across all sites, and an emergency alarm system for Charing Cross theatres. This enabled the teams to meet and exceed the national standards set out by the RCoA.

The ACSA review team highlighted a number of areas of good practice in their report. Lead reviewer, Dr Patricia Mills, consultant anaesthetist and clinical director at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, commented: “The review team were struck by the commitment across sites to deliver excellence in all aspects of anaesthesia care. The complexity of this undertaking and the cohesiveness of the units in working together to deliver and evidence outstanding patient care is commendable.

“The engagement across departments was clear throughout the review visit and we were impressed with the subsequent thoroughness to meet standards and achieve accreditation. Imperial College Healthcare should be justifiably very proud of this award”.

The RCoA ACSA Committee plan to include some examples of what we have achieved in their library of good practice, which is being developed as a reference for other departments going through the ACSA process.

Dr Mark Sacks, consultant anaesthetist at Imperial College Healthcare, coordinated activities across our hospitals as part of the accreditation. He said: “This achievement belongs to every member of our team – and is testament to their hard work, expertise, and dedication.

“It showcases our collective dedication to excellence and reinforces our position as leaders in delivering the highest standards of anaesthetic care for our patients, as well as our desire to continue to improve and innovate our services. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this outstanding achievement.”

Professor Rajarshi Bhattacharya, divisional director of surgery at Imperial College Healthcare, said: "This prestigious accreditation is a reflection of the expertise, passion and hard work of our anaesthesia departments.

"A huge amount of work went into this, including collaboration with many wider teams across the Trust. Everyone should be really proud of this achievement. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to this."