Past Final FRCA SAQ and CRQ Topics

This page contains every topic examined in the Final SAQ or CRQ papers since 2017.

Each topic links to the most relevant page on the site; hover over (or tap and hold) a topic to see which question it was, and to highlight every other sitting in which the same topic has appeared.

Topics in grey italics do not have a dedicated page... yet.

March & September 2017: entries taken from the question papers, as examiner reports were not published for these sittings.
March 2020: question 3 was withdrawn.
September 2021: the CRQ was voided after a technical failure of the online platform.
September 2023: primary topic of paediatric question unclear from examiner feedback.
February 2025: question 3 was removed.
September 2026: report awaited.
2027: final round of CRQs before change to SBA-only format.

Topic area	2017SAQ	2018SAQ	2019Hybrid	2020CRQ	2021CRQSep: paper voided	2022CRQ	2023CRQ	2024CRQ	2025CRQ	2026CRQAwaiting September report
Neuroanaesthesia and neurocritical care	Spinal cord injury	Trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy	Thrombotic ischaemic stroke	Subarachnoid haemorrhage Neuromonitoring and jugular venous saturation	Awake craniotomy	Hydrocephalus	Spinal cord injury Subarachnoid haemorrhage	Head injury	Traumatic brain injury Awake craniotomy	Mechanical thrombectomy
Cardiothoracic anaesthesia	Off-pump CABG Intra-aortic balloon pump	Cardiac implantable devices Lung resection	Dilated cardiomyopathy Aortic stenosis Cardioplegia	Anticoagulation for bypass Intra-aortic balloon pump	Pneumonectomy	Cardiac tamponade Aortic stenosis and TAVI	Intra-aortic balloon pump VATS	Bypass and heparin Aortic dissection The transplanted heart	Post-operative pacing removed Lung resection	IABP after CABG
Intensive care medicine	Status epilepticus ARDS Renal replacement therapy	Delirium Drowning Ventilator-associated pneumonia	Refeeding syndrome Tracheostomy emergencies	Acute severe asthma	Airway pressure release ventilation	Prone ventilation Seizures and status epilepticus	Ventilator-associated pneumonia Burns	Seizures and hyponatraemia Beta-blocker overdose	Acute severe asthma Brainstem death	ARDS and ECMO
Obstetric anaesthesia	Post-dural puncture headache Intrauterine fetal death	Pre-eclampsia Obstetric patient with high BMI	Appendicectomy in pregnancy Amniotic fluid embolism	GA for caesarean section Remifentanil PCA	Cardiac disease in pregnancy	Obesity in pregnancy Non-obstetric surgery in pregnancy	Obstetric haemorrhage Post-dural puncture headache	Postnatal sepsis Thrombocytopenia in pregnancy	GA in a parturient with previous spinal surgery Incidental surgery in pregnancy	Placenta accreta spectrum
Paediatric anaesthesia	Ex-premature infant for hernia repair Child with URTI	Cerebral palsy Meningococcal sepsis	Day case strabismus surgery Laryngospasm	Atrial septal defect		Meningitis and septic shock Inhaled foreign body	Pyloric stenosis Paediatrics: ECG and CXR interpretation	Caudal anaesthesia Paediatric sepsis	Mediastinal mass MRI under GA	OSA and adenotonsillectomy
Pain medicine	Persistent post-operative pain Rib fractures in COPD	Advanced cancer pain Fentanyl patches and chronic pain	Phantom limb pain Intrathecal opioids	Acute on chronic pain Persistent post-operative pain	Trigeminal neuralgia	Phantom limb pain Rib fractures	Chronic post-surgical pain Back pain	Opioid stewardship Hip fracture analgesia	Trigeminal neuralgia Opioid tolerance	Chronic back pain and spinal cord stimulators
Airway, ENT and maxillofacial		Bimaxillary osteotomy Thyroidectomy	Difficult extubation LASER airway surgery	Thyroid disease and surgery Airway anatomy and difficult mask ventilation Middle ear surgery	Tonsillectomy	Thyroidectomy	Airway stents	TIVA for middle ear surgery Middle ear surgery	Thyroidectomy Awake airway topicalisation
Perioperative medicine and specific conditions	Pre-operative anaemia PONV CPET and risk scoring Obstructive sleep apnoea Pulmonary hypertension	Phaeochromocytoma Post-operative pulmonary complications Guillain-Barré syndrome	End-stage renal failure Smoking Prehabilitation Diabetes and oral hypoglycaemics Myasthenia gravis Perioperative anaemia and blood loss	Ankylosing spondylitis The elderly patient Parkinson's disease Drug-eluting stents Post-operative pulmonary complications Obesity PONV	Sickle cell disease Venous thromboembolism	CPET Patient blood management Atrial fibrillation Guillain-Barré syndrome Asthma and bronchospasm Liver disease	Adrenal insufficiency and glucocorticoids VTE and prophylaxis Parkinson's disease Perioperative diabetes Obesity	Delirium and POCD PONV Ankylosing spondylitis Myasthenia gravis	Obesity Risk prediction and shared decision making Post-operative pulmonary complications Sickle cell disease The elderly patient	Perioperative fasting Pre-operative iron deficiency anaemia Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
General, urological, gynaecological and transplant surgery	Renal transplantation and CKD Splenectomy for ITP	Laparotomy for ovarian malignancy		Liver resection	TURP	Robotic surgery	Renal transplantation		TURP Liver resection
Orthopaedics, trauma and regional anaesthesia	Hip fracture and fascia iliaca block				Spinal surgery and prone positioning	Brachial plexus blocks	Fractured neck of femur		Trauma Enhanced recovery for hip arthroplasty	Fractured neck of femur
Clinical incidents, safety and professional practice	Wrong-sided block and never events Dental damage		Perioperative anaphylaxis Malignant hyperpyrexia Wrong-sided block			Gastric aspiration Accidental awareness	Consent and capacity	Sustainability Accidental awareness Perioperative cardiac arrest Acute dystonic drug reaction	Gastric aspiration	Anaphylaxis
Day surgery, sedation and remote site		Anaesthesia in MRI			Sedation in liver disease		Day case spinal	ECT and suxamethonium apnoea
Ophthalmic, plastics, burns and vascular	Burns and inhalational injury	Free flap breast reconstruction Penetrating eye injury	Carotid endarterectomy	Burns	Emergency eye surgery and IOP		Carotid endarterectomy Ophthalmic blocks	Free flap surgery		Carotid endarterectomy
Advanced sciences	Ultrasound physics and needling	Preoxygenation TIVA and TCI systems Meta-analysis		Cardiac output measurement		Hyperoxia Fluids