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142 Standalone Chapters 2020 | NMH Annual Rep t Dr Siobhan McGuinness and Dr Ingrid Browne Consultant Anaesthesiologists and Dr Siobhan Corcoran, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at a designated COVID-19 zone. Staffing Dr. Larry Crowley was head of department for the year. The department bade farewell to Dr Ola Rosaeg who retired in 2020 after many years of service. Dr. Kevin McKeating retired from obstetric anaesthetic practice but continues to oversee the chronic pain medicine service. There were 11 anaesthesia trainee members of the department from January - July and 10 from July- December 2020. Operating Theatre Activity Despite the difficulties imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Anaesthesia continued its high level of activity in 2020. The total number of procedures performed in theatre was 4,121 (a decrease of 472 on 2019 likely due to COVID-19 related curtailment of services. Analgesia for Labour and Delivery A wide range of multi-modal labor analgesic options were utilised by mothers including both non- pharmacologic (relaxation therapy, aromatherapy, TENS) and pharmacologic methods (nitrous oxide Anaes esia, Pain Medicine and High Dependency Care inhalation, intramuscular opioids and neuraxial techniques). Intravenous remifentanil PCA during labour was also available but there were no recorded users. Epidural Rate The department performed a total of 3,638 epidurals. Subtracting the number of mothers who had a 'pre-labour' caesarean section from total delivered gives us the closest approximation of mothers who commenced actual labour and thus potentially had an opportunity to request epidural analgesia. Almost all received low-dose Patient Controlled Epidural Analgesia (PCEA) using 0.125% L-Bupivicaine and Fentanyl 2 mcg/ml with a 5 ml/hr background infusion, 5 ml patient bolus option with a lockout interval of 15 minutes. In certain circumstances, combined spinal epidural (CSE) or continuous spinal analgesia modalities were employed. Anaesthesia for Caesarean Section Unfortunately, the MN-CMS system still does not allow us to determine the mode of anaesthesia relative to whether the C-Section was elective or emergency, nor the proportion of neuraxial techniques converted to general anaesthesia. We hope to have this resolved for 2021 data. • Not all patients who had accidental dural puncture developed PDPH.