Rachel Collis MBBS FRCA MSc qualified from St Bartholomew's Hospital, London University in 1986. After training in anaesthesia in the major teaching hospitals around London and finding a passion for obstetric anaesthesia whilst working as a specialist registrar at Queen Charlottes Hospital, she moved to Cardiff in 1997 to take up a consultant post with a special interest in obstetric anaesthesia. She has a special interest in the management of the high risk parturient and has led on multiple quality improvement initiatives including the outcomes of post-partum haemorrhage and the early recognition and treatment of maternal sepsis. She has a long standing interest in obstetric anaesthetic research and has published regularly in this area regularly since 1993. She was awarded an Honorary Professorship by the Obstetric Anaesthetist Associated (OAA) in May 2017 for contributions to obstetric anaesthesia research.Sarah Harries MBBS FRCA qualified from Royal Free School of Medicine, University of London in 1991. Following medicine and anaesthesia training in the South West of England and Nottingham, she returned to her home country of Wales as a Specialist Registrar in 1997 with a keen will to follow her love of obstetric anaesthesia and all its complexities. Appointed Consultant Anaesthetist with specialist interest in Obstetric and Transplant Anaesthesia at The University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff in 2002. She has held leadership roles within postgraduate medical education and training in Wales since 2006. Current appointments include RCoA Regional Adviser Anaesthesia for Wales and Head of Specialty School Anaesthesia and ICM, Health Education and Improvement Wales.Abrie Theron MBChB MRCP FRCA qualified from the University of Pretoria in 1999 and worked in rural South Africa for 2 years. In 2002, he moved to the UK and trained in medicine and anaesthesia in Exeter, completing his anaesthetic training in Wales in 2012. The same year he was appointed as a Consultant in Cardiff. Specialist interest includes Obstetric Anaesthesia and Anaesthesia for Gynaecological Oncology, ENT, Orthopaedics and Eye surgery.He was appointed Deputy Clinical Director within the Department of Perioperative Medicine at the University Hospital of Wales in January 2016. Other current leadership roles include: Co-opted member of Royal College of Anaesthetists Council as Chair of the Advisory Board for Wales / National Specialty Advisory Group Anaesthesia, and Vice-Chair of Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Wales.

• 1: Rachel Collis: Thinking about obstetric anaesthesia 2: Nuala Lucas and James Bamber: Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths (CEMD) 3: Korede Adekanye and Paul Abrie Theron: Maternal physiology 4: Korede Adekanye and Abrie Theron: Maternal pathophysiology 5: Rachel Collis, Lucy De Lloyd, and David Hill: Antenatal assessment and Pain management 6: Matt Turner and Graeme Lilley: Non-regional labour analgesia 7: Rachel Collis and Sarah Harries: Regional techniques in pregnancy 8: Rafal Baraz: Ultrasound in Obstetric Practice (New) 9: Sarah Harries and Rachel Collis: Regional analgesia for labour 10: Rachel Collis: Anaesthesia for Caesarean section: basic principles 11: Sarah Harries and Rachel Collis: Anaesthesia for Caesarean section: Regional anaesthesia 12: Rhidian Jones and Stephen Morris: Anaesthesia for Caesarean section: General anaesthesia 13: Gemma Keigthley and Sarah Harries: Post delivery symptom control 14: Sarah Harries: Anaesthesia and Analgesia for specific obstetric indications 15: Sarah Harries: Post partum review and complications 16: Huda Al-Foudri, Stuart Davies, and Abrie Theron: Obesity in Pregnancy 17: Lucy De Lloyd and Sarah Bell: The Sick and Septic Mother 18: Sue Catling and Susan Williams: Major Obstetric Haemorrhage 19: Eleanor Lewis and Stuart Davies: Hypertentive disease 20: Abrie Theron: Embolic disease 21: Rachel Collis: The collapsed parturient 22: Martin Garry: Anaesthesia for non-obstetric surgery 23: Christine Conner: The fetus 24: Angela Hayward: Neonatal resuscitation 25: Rachel Collis and David Leslie: A-Z conditions

This is an excellent and useful pocketsized book that would be a valuable tool for junior anesthesiologists in training and consultants ... For those who are familiar with the tried and tested Oxford Handbook series, I would certainly recommend adding it to your library.