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Election 2020 and news

After our annual board meeting yesterday, we are happy to announce that we have 2 new board members: Maria Sebastian and Jonathan Womack. We also welcome back Ashwani Gupta for a second term, and have a new trainee representative, Dr Toby Ashken.

In other changes, firstly, we say a fond farewell to Dr Morne Wolmarans, possibly the longest serving, and certainly one of our very best board members. He will continue to look after our UK RA interests within ESRA, and we expect to see him at the new improved Covid free ASM next year. We also say goodbye to our trainee rep Jim Parry, who, having gained a substantive post at Stanmore last year, is now replaced by Toby. We thank him for his hard work on the board, and again, will catch up soon at the many meetings and courses up and down the country. Finally, we give great thanks to Tim Moll who was coopted onto council for the last year to organise the ASM in Sheffield 2020. His hard work will not be in vain, however, as we have a special announcement soon about RA-UK 2021.

Secondly, we have a few position changes, Lloyd Turbitt has become our new treasurer, as Alan Macfarlane was unanimously voted our new president elect. He will take up his term of office when Amit Pawa steps down in 2021. Nat Haslam continues as honorary secretary, and we intend to co-opt Simeon West as webmaster/comms (to be ratified at the next AGM).

And finally, in view of our ASM in Sheffield unfortunately being cancelled, we have elected to run our Annual General Meeting virtually. This will be at 7:30 on the evening of 26th May. It will be held as a Zoom meeting (surprise, surprise). Any ordinary member who wishes to join, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and we will send you the secure link. 

Regional Anaesthesia Collections

Two fantastic RA resources have been put together by Cochrane and the team at BJA Education.

These both bring together a themed collection of the work done by these fantastic groups.

The Cochrane resource can be found here, along with a permanent link in our education section.

The BJA Education resource can be found here, along with a permanent link too.

Many thanks to Cochrane for putting this together.

Regional anaesthesia during the coronavirus pandemic

During the current pandemic regional anaesthesia and analgesia potentially offers several important benefits to both patients and health care staff:

• Reduce the requirement for general anaesthesia and airway manipulation
• Reduce risk of airway complications such as chest infection 
• Decreased length of stay

See full statement about RA and Covid 19 here

Recommendations about RA and Covid have also been produced by ASRA, and the summary sheet can be downloaded here

RA-UK ASM - Coronovirus Update

RA-UK are very sorry to have to announce the cancellation of our 2-day Annual Scientific meeting scheduled for 18-19^th May 2020 in Sheffield.

We have been following the global developments surrounding COVID-19 very closely and we are all agreed that the safety of our delegates, faculty, and the community as a whole must take priority. We were due to have a large attendance with faculty and delegates from all over the UK and the rest of the world. Such a public gathering of front-line staff who are likely to be called upon to deal with patients with COVID-19 was too great a risk to take.

We assure you that this is not a decision we have taken lightly. This was set to be the most successful RA-UK meeting yet because of your support and enthusiasm for Regional Anaesthesia and POCUS education. RA-UK are very sorry for the inconvenience that this will undoubtedly have caused. 

All delegates, faculty and industry sponsors have been informed.

Delegates will be refunded their registration over the coming weeks. For international refunds there may be a small administrative charge.

Once we have successfully dealt with whatever the next few months bring us, we will launch our 2021 meeting (#RAUK21) which is already being planned and the dates are 29^th April – 1^st May 2021. We look forward to welcoming you and seeing you then.

Once again, please accept our sincere apologies and we thank you for your support and understanding

I would also like to personally extend my thanks to: Dr Tim Moll and Dr Kim Russon, along with the rest of the Sheffield Local organising team, our event management company EMD, and all of our faculty for the hard work they dedicated to designing and preparing for this meeting.

With my very best wishes,

Dr Amit Pawa

Pocket Guide to Regional Anaesthesia now available

We are delighted to announce that the shiny, brand new second edition of the RA-UK Pocket Guide to Regional Anaesthesia is now available to purchase from Amazon.

Those waiting on copies promised for membership should now have been received, (if you think you are due a book and havent received one, please contact the membership helpdesk on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). We have plenty of stock for bulk orders for courses etc.

Thanks for your patience, and we hope you like the new book!