For patients having elective or emergency surgery, there is one part of their hospital stay that can cause anxiety for some - the use of anaesthetics and analgesia to manage pain.
Experienced team
At Liverpool Women’s, our highly experienced and dedicated team care for around 6,000 women every year in one of our five gynaecology operating theatres. We also provide a 24-hour epidural service for over 1,500 women each year and look after more than 2,000 women who come to one of our three maternity operating theatres for either a planned or emergency caesarean section. The team is a made up of consultant anaesthetists, theatre nurses, operating department practitioners, healthcare assistants and porters.
Where it all began
Our anaesthetics department is named after Tom Bryson, Consultant Anaesthetist at Liverpool Maternity Hospital from 1965 until 1995. Tom ensured that the women of Liverpool were amongst the first in the UK to receive epidurals during labour. He also co-founded the Obstetric Anaesthetists Association, an organisation that has a worldwide reputation for promoting the highest standards of anaesthetic practice in maternity care.
Another of our former colleagues, Dr Robert James Minnitt, invented the original 'gas and air' machine, used for pain relief during labour. In 1965, it was replaced with Entonox - Nitrous Oxide and Oxygen - which even today is still referred to by most midwives and patients as 'gas and air'.