Auditing safe sedation practice nationally

The SWARM group should be congratulated on the recent article on sedation practice within six acute hospitals 1, which demonstrates that a national audit of sedation practice appears feasible. However, if data from the SWARM group are extrapolated to all UK hospitals, non-anaesthetists administer over two thirds of procedural sedation, which raises the question of how the accurate recording of adverse events might best be achieved. This will undoubtedly involve co-ordinated collaboration between a number of stakeholders, such as occurred in the production of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges report Safe Sedation Practice for Healthcare Procedures: Standards and Guidance 2, but the potential improvements for patient care should not be underestimated.