History of the Trust

The JCBW trust has an established record of supporting anaesthesia related activities. During the late 1980s, the inadequacy of anaesthesia monitoring equipment hit the headlines (The Dominion Sunday Times, October 23, 1988, and The Evening Post-February 25, 1989). By January 1990 reports indicated that anaesthetists might decline to take part in elective surgery at Wellington Public Hospital because of lack of progress about the availability of pulse oximeters.  These circumstances triggered the establishment of the Trust by a number of interested parties; after Cam Barrett’s death, it was renamed to honour his significant role in founding the Trust and his support of anaesthesia safety research.

In 1991, the JCBW Trust donated six patient-controlled analgesia pumps with the help of donations from Toyota, REM Systems and from grateful patients.  We would still appreciate any gifts or endowments that could assist us with making future donations. 

Perioperative medicine is now the domain of the anaesthetic fraternity and the JCBW Trust supports a wide range of anaesthesia related activities.  The organisation is overseen by ten trustees.