Dr Helgi Johannsson
Welcome to my page
I have been a consultant anaesthetist at Imperial College Healthcare since 2007, having trained at St Bartholomew’s, then anaesthetic training in North and East London. My clinical work is based at St Mary’s and Hammersmith hospitals and includes a wide variety of disciplines, including trauma care, oesophagogastric surgery, obstetrics, bariatrics.
My other interests include education, social media and medicine, music and exercise. I have been in many leadership roles, including clinical director of anaesthesia and intensive care, associate medical director for education at Imperial, director of anaesthesia for MSI choices and most recently Vice-President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
I have long kept a blog, on two different providers, the first being deleted a few years ago.
This website is simply to make access to my writing easier and protect it from being deleted on a corporate whim.
Epidurals in labour - a lifesaver?
Epidurals save lives and we should be telling our patients well before they get to the labour ward.
We need to change the concept of “natural labour” - no one has failed because they had an epidural, in fact the decision to have one will help them and their babies come through what is naturally a highly dangerous process unscathed, especially if they’re at risk of complications.