Dr Michael Carrick

Dr. Carrick has served as a Consultant Anaesthetist with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust since 2019, building on a foundation of anaesthetic training and practice that began in 2012. In this capacity he delivers anaesthesia for adult surgical patients across the full spectrum of specialties—except cardiac surgery—covering thoracic, hepatobiliary, general, gynaecological, urological, renal transplantation, and ophthalmic procedures. He is also routinely called upon to provide anaesthetic cover for emergency operations across all major surgical subspecialties, ensuring rapid and safe peri‑operative care in high‑pressured environments.

Over the course of his career Dr. Carrick has amassed a logbook of more than 5,500 anaesthetic cases. This includes approximately 400 advanced vascular access procedures such as Hickman line, Portacath, PICC and midline insertions, revisions and removals. He is proficient in both upper‑ and lower‑limb regional anaesthesia as well as neuraxial techniques, allowing him to tailor analgesic strategies to the individual needs of each patient and to contribute to multimodal pain‑management pathways.

Dr. Carrick’s clinical focus centres on thoracic surgery, ophthalmic surgery—including the provision of regional anaesthesia for eye procedures—and emergency surgery. He is equally invested in the broader domains of peri‑operative medicine and pre‑assessment services and leads Spire Leeds Preoperative Assessment Service, where he works to optimise patients’ physiological status before surgery and to reduce postoperative complications. His enthusiasm for these areas drives his participation in multidisciplinary teams and his advocacy for evidence‑based practice within the anaesthetic department.

A further pillar of his clinical interest is advanced vascular access. Over a five‑year period he performed approximately 400 insertions of Hickman lines, Portacaths, PICC lines and midlines, gaining a depth of hands‑on expertise in both placement and ongoing care of these devices. Although he no longer routinely carries out these procedures, his extensive experience ensures a high level of knowledge that he readily shares with colleagues. This background underpins his contribution to complex surgical cases and to the management of patients who require long‑term intravenous therapy, making him a trusted resource throughout the Trust.

While Dr. Carrick’s primary contributions have been clinical, he retains a strong interest in research related to peri‑operative optimisation, enhanced recovery pathways and the safety of advanced vascular access techniques. He actively follows emerging evidence in thoracic and ophthalmic anaesthesia, seeking opportunities to translate research findings into practice improvements within his departments.

Dr. Carrick co‑leads an internationally recognised Final FRCA revision course, delivering intensive preparation for approximately 100 candidates annually across four sittings. He also teaches the One‑Lung Ventilation programme for thoracic anaesthesia at Leeds Teaching Hospitals and serves as an OSCE examiner for the University of Leeds School of Medicine, where he holds the title of Honorary Senior Lecturer. Earlier in his career he acted as Junior Doctor Representative on the Drugs and Therapeutics Committee and as Anaesthesia and Theatres Representative for the Junior Doctor Body, contributing to clinical guideline formulation and Enhanced Recovery protocols.

Dr Carrick’s scholarly output spans educational resources, quality‑improvement audits, and clinical case reports. In 2019 he co‑authored an e‑learning module on smoking for the e‑Learning Anaesthesia (e‑LA) platform and contributed a peer‑reviewed article, “Smoking and Anaesthesia,” to British Journal of Anaesthesia Education. The same year he helped produce the “Fight Fatigue Campaign” case study on trainee rest facilities for the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and a related audit published in Anaesthesia News. Earlier work includes a 2018 case report on an acute C2 odontoid peg fracture in a cardiac surgical patient (Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anaesthesia) and a 2018 audit of anaesthetic trainee rest facilities (Anaesthesia News). His earliest listed publication, a 2012 audit of the incidence and outcomes of ventilator‑associated pneumonia, appeared in Anaesthesia. Collectively, these papers demonstrate Dr. Carrick’s commitment to improving peri‑operative safety, trainee wellbeing, and anaesthetic education.

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During his tenure at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr. Carrick chaired the Hospital Transfusion Committee for five years and currently represents Anaesthesia on the Medical Advisory Committee at Spire Healthcare, Leeds. As the Clinical Lead for Governance at Spire Healthcare, he chairs the Safety, Quality and Risk committee as well as overseeing patient‑complaint review, safety alert management, peer‑practice audits and broader governance processes. He is a qualified Lead Investigator and has conducted multiple Level‑3 Serious Incident Investigations for the Trust’s Risk Management Department. In addition, Dr. Carrick has contributed to digitalisation projects for healthcare records and to the optimisation of safe patient handover within emergency theatre services.