The anaesthetist and the obstetric department

The author retired from active practice as a consultant anaesthetist in the British National Health Service during 1980 at the age of 60. He kept a detailed diary for the last full year as a consultant. One of the editors suggested that the diary, augmented by his considered views culled from the experiences of a professional lifetime, could form the basis of a series of essays on various aspects of the life and practice of a consultant anaesthetist during the second half of the twentieth century. This essay considers the special and increasing responsibility of the anaesthetist in the obstetric department, both for the provision of analgesia in the labour ward and anaesthesia for operative obstetrics, and as a link between others who are vitally concerned in the provision of safe perinatal care for both mother and child.