Anaesthesia on Air is the Podcast from the Royal College of Anaesthetists. The Royal College of Anaesthetists is the professional body responsible for the speciality throughout the UK.
We are the third largest Medical Royal College in the UK by membership. With a combined membership of 23,000 fellows and members, we ensure the quality of patient care by safeguarding standards in the three specialities of anaesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine.
We are always looking for new content, so if you have any ideas, or would like to get involved, please contact us at: education-content (mailto:podcast@rcoa.ac.uk).
In this episode of our new ethics and law podcast series, host Paul McConnell is joined by Sevim Ahmet, Legal Director at Fieldfisher and member of the RCoA Ethics Committee, to unpack one of the most important and often misunderstood aspects of clinical practice: consent. Together, they explore how the legal principles of landmark cases such as Montgomery and McCulloch apply in real-world healthcare settings, discussing patient autonomy, material risk, trainee involvement, capacity, and the realities of obtaining informed consent under time pressure. Through practical examples and insights from the courtroom, this engaging conversation offers clinicians valuable guidance on navigating complex consent discussions while highlighting the crucial role of clear communication and robust documentation.
23 Jul 2026
The ethical and legal basis for consent
In the first episode of this new ethics and law podcast series, Dr Paul McConnell is joined by healthcare law expert Dr Anna Nelson to explore one of the most fundamental principles in healthcare: consent.
Together, they discuss why consent is far more than a signed form, examining the legal, ethical, and practical issues that shape informed decision-making. From landmark cases such as Montgomery to the challenges of capacity, communication, coercion, and risk disclosure, this episode offers a thought-provoking introduction to patient-centred care and the evolving legal landscape of consent.
An essential listen for anyone interested in ethics, law, anaesthesia, intensive care, and modern clinical practice.
9 Jul 2026
TopMedTalk - Addressing Drug Allergy Labels: Insights and Implications
The next episode from our colleagues at TopMedTalk features Andy Cumpstey interviewing Louise Savic, consultant anaesthetist and NIHR doctoral researcher at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK, who specialises in drug allergy and peri-operative anaphylaxis, and Tom Abbott, clinical senior lecturer in anaesthesia and peri-operative medicine at Queen Mary University of London, UK, and a consultant anaesthetist whose research uses clinical epidemiology and trials to improve surgical outcomes and reduce peri-operative complications.
The discussion highlights the vast disparity between true drug allergies and mislabelling, emphasizing that around 90-95% of penicillin allergy labels are incorrect. Dr. Savic shares her journey in drug allergy research, focusing on the perioperative setting, while Dr. Abbott discusses the linkage between antimicrobial prescribing and resistance.
The talk covers results from the Sapphire Project, revealing the high incidence of mislabelled drug allergies and their associated increased postoperative risks. The episode also explores potential strategies for ‘de-labelling’ patients, the role of multidisciplinary collaboration, and the next steps in research and practice change.
This was recorded at the RCoA's Anaesthesia Research 2025 event and was first released on TopMedTalk in February 2026.
Inside a recent episode
Anaesthetists and Aerospace Medicine
Published 19 Dec 2023 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Your presentation today was entitled Anestis and Aerospace Medicine in a new era of human spaceflight. Can you talk us through some of the basics so definitions first of all what what is Aerospace Medicine? So Aerospace Medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the physiology and medical aspects of flight so it's combining aviation and spaceflight so it includes things that we're more familiar with as Anestis like air ambulance work, air medical critical care but actually it's much broader things like pilot medical certification fitness to fly and also military aviation and of course spaceflight where there's some really quite extreme things going on physiologically and potentially medically so it's a quite a mature specialty actually in many parts of the world it's a GMC recognized specialty in the UK and actually quite a few Anestis were involved in the development of it and it's recognition as a specialty. […]
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