About us…

Established in 1997, the Mersey School of Anaesthesia (MSA) is dedicated to supporting anaesthetists preparing for their Primary and Final FRCA examinations, and more recently also supporting Intensive Care Doctors with their Final ICM Examination.

Initially managed through charitable trust accounts held at Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital and Aintree Hospitals, following advice from the Trust’s account managers, the MSA transitioned to an independent charitable company in 2012.
Subsequently, the MSA officially registered with the Charity Commission (Reg. No. 1149165).

All income is reinvested into the operations & delivery of our courses, maintaining exceptional quality while keeping fees as low as possible in today’s climate.
Our Faculty Members generously volunteer their time and expertise, and they are also eligible to apply for grant funding to support their professional development.
At the end of each financial year, any surplus – after covering operational costs, grants, donations, and sponsorships – is allocated to our Charitable Fund. These funds are then donated to initiatives in research, education, and patient care, primarily within the field of anaesthesia or intensive care medicine.

Since 1997, the MSA has donated over £950,000 to such initiatives—made possible thanks to the continued support of our course alumni, and the dedicated anaesthetists who contribute as Faculty to our courses without expectation of reward or payment.

Its Motto & Objectives

The Motto of the MSA is “If you Feed the Children with a Spoon, they will never Learn how to Use the Chopsticks”

This phrase originates with Dr David Gray (DG), the MSA’s founder, who served as part of a medical relief team for 4 years during the Vietnam War, which is where he first discovered this saying. And, on developing and establishing the Courses in 1997, he adopted the phrase as our motto – serving as a metaphor that embodies our philosophy and approach to preparing for exams. Dr Gray, and subsequently everyone involved with the MSA, believe that true learning comes from active engagement. And, as the motto suggests, we avoid “spoon-feeding” because we believe it is not the path to deeper understanding and subsequent success in the FRCA, and, ultimately, your career in anaesthesia.

You must appreciate before you attend our Courses that we never claim to provide teaching or distribute teaching materials on our Courses.
We recognise that this does not suit everyone and ask that you do not attend if you are to expect that from us.

Our Courses are for Exam Preparation, and will focus on ‘Active Learning’ built on a foundation of our (almost) 30 years’ experience of preparing Anaesthetists for the FRCA.

This includes;

• Exposure to Exam Style Questions
• Opportunities to Practice
• Learn & Fine Tune Exam Technique
• Peer Learning

The advice to Trainees is that they should attend our Courses only when they consider themselves fully prepared, in terms of their knowledge, for the imminent Examinations.

The MSA’s emphatic advice regarding all the FRCA Examinations is that Anaesthetists should only sit these examinations when they have done enough preparation to feel that they Deserve to Pass.
It has to be courting disappointment to enter for an exam Hoping to Pass

We also fully appreciate our methods do not suit everyone’s learning style, therefore, you must feel assured before attending that it will help you in your Exam Preparation and subsequently embrace the ‘gameplay’ we offer.
We are very conscious, at this stage of training, how valuable time and money is, and want to make sure you make the best use of it – Not everyone finds the same approach useful.

We are happy to answer any questions that you may have, but also advise you to speak to Colleagues who have been to MSA Courses in the past to ask them the questions: ‘Why they would recommend?’ and ‘How did the Course help them?’.

Updated by MSA Executive,  March 2026