The Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association (OAA) is a specialist membership organisation providing an authoritative voice on safety in maternity services through leadership, education, information and guidance.
Our core activities
- Educating. We hold a number of meetings and courses throughout the year for anaesthetists and other health professionals. Members enjoy discounted rates and are granted online access to lectures, podcasts and reports. A programme of overseas meetings and education is also actively supported by the OAA executive committee.
- Best practice. We share guidance on best practice and conduct surveys with our members to better understand how obstetric anaesthesia is delivered. We also invite our members to share their views on best practice.
- Grant giving. We provide grants to members to encourage research into practice and care that will inform and improve future practice. For more information, see our Grants page.
- Patient information. We run and fund a public information website – labourpains.org on obstetric anaesthetic practice, including looking at the pain relief options for labour. Our information is freely available in over 30 languages.
- Benchmarking. We support our members to measure and compare the quality of care provided in their hospitals so it can be better understood how care can be improved locally and nationally
- Global expertise. We provide a voice for obstetric anaesthetists by representing our speciality nationally and internationally, engaging with other healthcare organisations and governmental agencies.
