Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine

What we do

Anaesthesiologists are medical doctors trained to provide safe and effective anaesthesia for surgery, using one or a mixture of general anaesthesia, sedation, local or regional anaesthesia (where one part of the body is anaesthetised). The anaesthesiologist remains with the patient throughout their procedure until they are safely handed over in the recovery room.

Anaesthesia services are delivered in the operating theatres, emergency department, intensive care unit and birth suite as well as procedure areas such as radiology and interventional cardiology. We also provide an Acute Pain Service for patients recovering from major surgery and trauma.

Outpatient services are also provided for patients who have had allergic reactions to anaesthetic drugs and for patients referred with chronic pain conditions.

Training is a core activity of our department. When junior anaesthesiologists reach specialist level they are awarded the Fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FANZCA).

The 24-hour anaesthetic service at Sandringham is provided by the Alfred Health Department of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, and provides:

• anaesthesia for general, orthopaedic, urological, ophthalmic, ENT and gynaecological surgery.
• anaesthesia for obstetrics (eg. labour epidural, Caesarean Section)
• perioperative medicine and resuscitation
• pain management. 

How to access this service

No external referrals accepted

You can only access this service when you are staying in hospital or if you have been referred by an Alfred Health clinician.