The South West Cardiothoracic Centre is located on level 6 of the Plateau building. There are 8 consultant cardiothoracic anaesthetists:
-Dr P Murphy
-Dr C Cummings
-Dr M Jayarajah
-Dr N Mahmood
-Dr P Robbins
-Dr S Dudnikov
-Dr M Bennett
-Dr J Ambler

All are members of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthetists.

They provide anaesthetic services for all adult cardiac surgical procedures with the exception of transplantation surgery. In addition they provide anaesthetic services for all major thoracic surgery, upper gastrointestinal (oesophageal) surgery and for complex cardiological cases requiring general anaesthesia.  In addition to anaesthesia for surgical procedures, the consultant anaesthetists provide a full consultant service to the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CICU).

In support of their role all of the anaesthetists perform transoesophageal echocardiography for cardiac surgery to assist in perioperative decision making and postoperative optimisation. 

All anaesthetic services within the cardiothoracic unit are consultant led and delivered.  The consultants are supported by a dedicated team of junior anaesthetists and operating department practitioners.

Medical students from the Peninsula Medical School undertake training supervised by members of the team. Patients having surgery in the unit might expect to be visited by and with the necessary consent, have procedures demonstrated to attached medical students.

Together with the cardiothoracic surgeons and other members of the team the anaesthetists are actively involved in advancing the fields of cardiothoracic surgery, anaesthesia and intensive care by involvement in research and development. Current areas of research include:
-The introduction of Miniature Extracorporeal Circuit (MECC) to provide cardiopulmonary support during surgery.
-The introduction of Endoscopic vein harvesting ('keyhole' vein harvest).
-The use of blood salvage to minimise the requirement of blood transfusion postoperatively.
-The evaluation of the use of bilateral paravertebral block to facilitate early weaning from the ventilator post cardiac surgery.
-Participation in an international study of genetic markers to outcome after cardiac surgery.

Use of blood conservation techniques including cell salvage, point-of-care coagulation testing and miniaturised extracorporeal circuits.