The APAGBI Paediatric Airway Committee
Paediatric airway care now spans a broad and complex field, including difficult airway frameworks, airway alerts and information sharing, emergency preparedness, FONA, simulation, education, difficult intubation guidance, tracheostomy-related pathways, registry and data infrastructure, and interfaces with national policy and safety work. The Committee is the professional home for paediatric airway work led by, with or on behalf of APAGBI, through which this work can be mapped, prioritised and developed with the right expertise, at the right stage and within sound governance.
For members, this means working towards a system in which information about a child's difficult airway follows them reliably between hospitals and regions, better access to simulation and emergency airway training, clearer and more consistent national guidance, and a single recognised route through which paediatric airway concerns, ideas and improvements can be raised and taken forward.
Purpose
The APAGBI Paediatric Airway Committee provides a formal multidisciplinary structure through which paediatric airway priorities are identified, appraised and progressed with appropriate expertise, governance and sequencing. It is the professional home for paediatric airway work led by, with or on behalf of APAGBI, and provides national paediatric anaesthetic leadership across clinical standards, education, research, data, safety, implementation and multidisciplinary collaboration. The Committee complements
rather than duplicates existing APAGBI committees and partner organisations, ensuring that the right expertise is engaged at the right stage and within a sound governance framework.
Vision
Every neonate, child and young person receives safe, high-quality airway management, wherever and whenever they present, supported by skilled teams, consistent standards, effective information sharing and the best available evidence.
Mission
To provide the formal multidisciplinary structure through which paediatric airway work is progressed across three strategic pillars: Research, Education, and Safety. This ensures that the right expertise and the right stakeholders are engaged, within the right governance framework, at the right time.
Committee Structure
The Committee operates through a focused core membership and a flexible workstream model, allowing priorities to be defined and adjusted according to national need, organisational opportunity and APAGBI Council oversight. A future APAGBI Paediatric Airway Link Network may be developed once the Committee has completed its initial scoping and alignment work. This would not be a second committee or decision-making body, but a wider network of identified contacts across centres, regions and operational delivery networks to support consultation, horizon scanning, dissemination and implementation.
Strategic Workstreams
The Committee's work is organised across three strategic pillars: Research, Education, and Safety, with partnerships and external collaboration running across all three. The Research pillar covers research prioritisation, evidence synthesis, multicentre paediatric airway research, registry and data infrastructure, paediatric difficult airway outcomes, data science and advanced airway analytics, and methodological oversight of the Committee's work. The Education pillar covers paediatric airway education and training, multiprofessional simulation, technical and non-technical skills including human factors, FONA and emergency airway preparedness, difficult airway rescue planning, dissemination of learning from airway events, and educational resources and implementation support. The Safety pillar covers national paediatric airway standards, guidelines and guidance, clinical audit, benchmarking and quality improvement, reduction of unwarranted variation, difficult airway information sharing, documentation, alerting and standardised terminology, learning from patient safety events, and interfaces with national safety programmes.
Partnership and collaboration are central to the Committee's work. Paediatric airway care sits across multiple professional and organisational interfaces, including DAS, RCoA, PCCS, BAPO/ENT, paediatric emergency medicine, retrieval and transport services, ODPs, theatre teams, patient and family representatives, and other groups where appropriate. Liaison arrangements support two-way communication, shared learning, horizon scanning, early identification of overlap and timely alignment where work is complementary or interdependent.
Current Priorities
The Committee's initial phase focuses on confirming core membership and specialist liaison, undertaking a national landscape review and stakeholder mapping exercise, and developing a prioritised programme of work. Early high-priority areas include APAGBI input into the national framework for triage and management of patients with a known difficult airway, arising from HSSIB-related work, and the updated APAGBI/DAS difficult intubation guidance. Other linked workstreams include MPS airway passports, FONA preparedness and interfaces with the Paediatric National Tracheostomy Group.
These workstreams are relevant to high-risk paediatric airway populations, emergency rescue planning, information transfer, multidisciplinary preparedness and implementation across tertiary centres, district general hospitals, retrieval and transport services, PICU, ENT, theatre teams and other clinical settings. The Committee will seek to align current and emerging workstreams, clarify governance and stakeholder involvement, reduce duplication, and support APAGBI's contribution to national paediatric airway safety, education, research and implementation. Any work involving airway alerts, information sharing or registry development will be taken forward with appropriate attention to data governance, information security and patient and family involvement, and in line with APAGBI governance.
Resources and Updates
This page provides a visible home for the Committee's aims, workstreams, partner interfaces, resources, guidance, educational outputs and updates for APAGBI members. The Committee's Terms of Reference and Strategic Priorities, structure diagram and relevant updates will be made available here as the work develops.
Keep an eye on this page for updates as the Committee's work develops. A future Paediatric Airway Link Network will be developed following the initial scoping and stakeholder-mapping phase. In the meantime, any enquiries can be directed to [email protected]
Administrative support: APAGBI c/o Event Management Direct: [email protected]
Committee Membership
Co-Chairs: Johnny Kenth and Sumit Das
Contact: [email protected]
Deputy Chair: Catalina Stendall
Core Committee Members:
Karen Bartholomew
Craig Lyons,
Arnie Choi,
Richard Newton,
Alistair Baxter,
Reema Nandi,
Raksa Tupprasoot,
Kira Achaibar
APAGBI liaison:
Scientific Committee: Johnny Kenth and Richard Newton; Education Committee: Catalina Stendall;
Council/Officer liaison: Sumit Das and Karen Bartholomew.
External or specialist liaison members, as required:
DAS: Prof Alistair McNarry;
RCoA: TBC;
PCCS / paediatric critical care: TBC;
ENT / BAPO: TBC;
Neonatology / BAPM: TBC;
Craniofacial and cleft services: TBC;
Paediatric emergency medicine: TBC;
Trainee representative: TBC;
Operating Department Practitioner: TBC;
Patient or family representative: TBC.
Administrative support: APAGBI c/o EMD [email protected]