Dr Matthew Drake

Dr Matthew Drake, Specialist Anaesthetist and Service Clinical Director, National Women’s Health Department of Anaesthesia, Auckland District Health Board

Matthew originally planned to train as an obstetrician, however some enthusiastic obstetric anaesthetists persuaded him that he could combine his interest in obstetrics with a career in anaesthesia. Originally from the United Kingdom, he is currently Service Clinical Director of the National Women’s Health Department of Anaesthesia in Auckland (NZ), and chair of the ANZCA NZ National Obstetric Anaesthesia Network.
What began as a small project to reduce wrong route drug errors in labour epidurals quickly became implementation of the neuraxial-specific connector standard across all clinical supplies used in Auckland District Health Board, the first large hospital in Australasia to do so.