Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association

The OAA (Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association) is a Registered Charity, established in 1969 with the aim of promoting the maximum standards of anaesthetic practice in the care of mother and child. Currently, they have around 2500 members, of whom about 80% are in the United Kingdom, with the rest spread around the world. The core activities of the OAA are (i) Training and educating anaesthetists and other health care professionals by organizing a number of regular meetings and courses throughout the year and occasional overseas ‘outreach’ meetings are held in developing countries. (ii) Provision of accurate information to the people about obstetric anaesthesia and pain relief. (iii) Distribution to members of its journal. Other activities of the OAA include, Distribution via the website of useful clinical guidelines that co-workers may use in developing their own local versions. Giving access to the members for results of OAA-approved surveys, relating to present obstetric anaesthetic practice and to the results of the National Obstetric Anaesthesia Database (NOAD), which helps to provide an over view of national practice year-on-year. Provision of various grants and bursaries from its charitable fund. The activities of the OAA are managed by its elected Executive Committee. The day-to-day running of the OAA is undertaken by its secretariat, based in London. Committee meetings are normally held in London either at the RCoA or AAGBI three times per year in March, June/July and October. In June/July- addresses any issues arising from the AGM; the annual review of the subcommittees or working groups would take place at this meeting. In March- reports would be obtainable as a prelude to the AGM (giving sufficient time to address issues before the AGM). Newly elected committee members of the OAA are declared at the Annual Scientific meeting AGM in the spring and you will receive a confirmatory e-mail the following week inviting the member to the next committee meeting in June (the date will be made available by the Hon. Secretary or the Secretariat). The elected position will have duration of three years and it is expected that individual will become involved in the established activities of the committee and subcommittees as well as taking forward their own ideas.