Our strategic relations

ANZCA is one of Australasia's largest specialist medical colleges, and the region's preeminent authority on anaesthesia, pain, and perioperative medicine.

We're solely responsible for training, examining and setting continuing professional development standards of anaesthetists and specialist pain medicine physicians in Australia and New Zealand, as well as setting the standards of clinical practice in each country.

And we're driving the development of an effective, integrated and collaborative perioperative care model that is likely to change the way core healthcare services are delivered in Australia and New Zealand.

So fostering positive, productive partnerships and respectful, responsive relations within our wider medical communities is critical.

At an international level, we're widely considered to be a global leader in anaesthesia education and training, and enjoy solid strategic relations with anaesthesia colleges and societies on every continent. Our Faculty of Pain Medicine was the first of its kind, and continues to lead the field internationally in that specialty. And our Clinical Trials Network is one of the largest and most successful multi-centre medical research collaborations in the world.

Explore some of the ways we're working with our communities of interest in Australia, New Zealand, and further afield.

In Australia and New Zealand

Through the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges and the New Zealand Council of Medical Colleges, we work closely with other specialist medical colleges on a range of inter-specialty issues and interests, including:

We work in similar ways with the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) and the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists (NZSA), the most significant example being the tripartite Anaesthesia Continuing Education (ACE) and the 17 special interest groups it's helped establish.

Our Faculty of Pain Medicine has significant historic ties to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS); the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP); and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) and its Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFRM), whose collaboration with ANZCA led to the creation of the world's first multidisciplinary pain medicine faculty.

The faculty also works closely with the Australian Pain Society, New Zealand Pain Society, painaustralia and other consumer groups focused on supporting patients experiencing pain.

Our formal roles and responsibilities require us to work closely with a range of national and state government agencies, as well as peak bodies such as the Medical Board of Australia, the Medical Council of New Zealand, and the Australian Medical Council.

We're also highly active "on the ground", fostering effective, practical working relations with hundreds of accredited training sites, particularly through the supervisory role holders and heads of department.

International relations

ANZCA fellows, often in collaboration with our surgical colleagues, undertake significant outreach activities throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including education and capacity development, and expert clinical service provision. We work with the ASA, NZSA, and organisations such as Interplast, a part of a co-ordinated approach to supporting and advocating for global health initiatives. Our Global Development Committee is an important part of this.

As part of our role in advocacy, we recently submitted a joint paper to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to call for our government to increase support for our nearest neighbours to ensure that ongoing education and training would result in a sustainable health workforce.

There is a tremendous unmet need for effective pain management in both acute and chronic pain in most countries but especially in low and middle-income countries. One of our most wide-ranging initiatives is the Essential Pain Management program which provides a resource for education and practice of pain management in 53 countries to date.

In Asia we have close ties with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. Although training for specialist anaesthetists ended in 2018 in these regions, we are working to ensure that we still retain strong links and collaborations which reflect our common goals and interests. We continue to train specialist pain medicine physicians in the first two jurisdictions, with Hong Kong expanding as a training centre for pain.

We're one of three colleges in the Tri-nationsAlliance. We meet regularly the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland to discuss joint interests and share educational and policy resources. And we're developing relationships with the anaesthesiology societies in China, Great Britain and Ireland, and Europe.

ANZCA is proud to be a member of the International Academy of Colleges of Anaesthesiology (IACA) and to join with the international colleges of the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Canada in this initiative.

Representation on other councils, committees, and boards

Many of our fellows represent the college on the boards, committees and working groups of external organisations. The main bodies and their representatives are indicated below.

Organisation	Committee Name	Representative	Reporting Committee
Australasian College for Emergency Medicine	Conjoint Committee of Pre-hospital and Retrieval Medicine	Dr Geoffrey Healy Dr Dean Bunbury	EEMC
Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine	Rural and Remote Digital Innovation Group	Dr Brian Spain	PAEC
Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS)	Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS)	Dr Nayana Vootakuru	Safety and Quality Committee
ANZCA and Australian Diabetes Society (ADS)	ANZCA and Australian Diabetes Society (ADS) Working Group	Dr Roger Traill Dr Judith Killen	PAEC
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare	National Maternal Mortality Advisory Committee for the National Maternity Data Development Project	Prof Alicia Dennis	Safety and Quality Committee
Australian Red Cross	Australian Red Cross Lifeblod Advisory Committee	Dr Lachlan Miles	Safety and Quality Committee
Australian Society of Anaesthetists	Council of Australian Society of Anaesthetists	President	Council
Australian Society of Anaesthetist	Professional Issues Advisory Committee (PIAC)	Dr Chris Cokis	Council
Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (Australia)	Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (Australia)	President	Council
College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand	Board of College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand	President	Council
College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand	Education Committee	Dr Ian Graham	EEMC
National Blood Authority (Australia)	CRG - Module 1: Critical Bleeding/Massive Transfusion	Dr Michael Parr	Safety and Quality Committee
National Blood Authority (Australia)	Jurisdictional Blood Committee (JBC) Working Group	Dr Michael Parr Dr Kerry Gunn A/Prof Bernd Froessler Dr Daniel Faulke Dr Hamish Mace	Safety and Quality Committee
Ministry of Health Disaster Response Preparedness (NZ)	Ministry of Health Disaster Response Preparedness (NZ)	Dr Maurice Lee	NZNC
National Rural Health Alliance	Council	Dr Brian Spain	PAEC
New Zealand Anaesthetic Technicians Society	New Zealand Anaesthetic Technicians Society	Dr Rachel Dempsey	NZNC
New Zealand Resuscitation Council	New Zealand Resuscitation Council	Dr Malcolm Stuart	NZNC
Patient Safety Movement Foundation	Post-operative delirium working group	Prof David A Scott	Safety and Quality Committee
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CCrISP) Committee	Dr Mark Edwards	Safety and Quality Committee
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	Council of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	President	Council
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	National Trauma Committee	Dr Kenneth Harrison	Executive
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	Wellbeing Working Group	Dr Scott Ma	PAEC
Royal Australiasian College of Surgeons	Rural Health Equity Steering Committee	A/Prof Deborah Wilson	PAEC
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	Australian and New Zealand Audit of Surgical Mortality	Dr Simon Jenkins	S&Q Committee
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	Trauma Care Verification Committee	Dr Adam Mahoney	S&Q Committee
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists	Endometriosis Expert Working Group	Dr Karin Jones	FPM Board
Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA)	Specialist Rural Stakeholder Committee	A/Prof Deb Wilson Mr Lincoln Hoye	CPMC
Australian Resuscitation Council	Australian Resuscitation Council	Dr Christopher Scarff Dr Michael Parr	Safety and Quality Committee
Society for Paediatric Anaesthesia in New Zealand and Australia (SPANZA)	Executive Committee	Dr Scott Ma	Safety and Quality Committee
Standards Australia	IEC TC 62D Electromedical Equipment	Dr Christopher Thompson	Safety and Quality Committee
Standards Australia	IT-014-02 (Health Concept Representation of Standards)	Dr Christopher Thompson	Safety and Quality Committee
Standards Australia	HE-017 Anaesthetic and Respiratory Care Equipment	Dr Phoebe-Anne Maitland	Safety and Quality Committee
Standards Australia	HE-028 (Quality Management and Corresponding General Aspects for Medical Devices)	Dr Phoebe-Anne Mainland	Safety and Quality Committee
Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)	Advisory Committee on Medical Devices	Prof Guy Ludbrook	Safety and Quality Committee
Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)	Ventilator Expert Working Group	Dr Michael McManus Dr Godfrey Wright Dr Christopher Thompson	Safety and Quality Committee
ANZCA, RACGP, ACRRM	Joint Consultative Committee on Anaesthesia	President (observer) A/Prof Deborah Wilson Dr Brian Spain Dr Frederick Rosewarne	EEMC
ANZCA, ASA, NZSA Interplast and Lifebox Global	- Lifebox Australia & NZ committee	Dr Michael Cooper	Overseas Aid Committee

International Academy of Colleges of Anaesthesiologists

ANZCA is a founding member of IACA; a collaboration between ANZCA, the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the College of Anaesthesiologists Ireland, the Hong Kong College of Anaesthesiologists and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Find out more

Our strategic relations

In Australia and New Zealand

International relations

Representation on other councils, committees, and boards

International Academy of Colleges of Anaesthesiologists

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