The British Hyperbaric Association is a charitable organisation promoting and supporting the use of hyperbaric medicine in the British Isles.

The BHA operates a helpline which offers emergency medical advice to divers and healthcare professionals caring for divers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This service is not commissioned by the NHS and is provided free of charge on behalf of the BHA.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a treatment which significantly increases the amount of oxygen available to the body’s tissues, thereby creating an environment that is more conducive to healing certain conditions.

Membership of the British Hyperbaric Association is made up of representatives from hyperbaric facilities all around the British Isles.

Many of us have always wanted to combine diving and our medical work, and Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine is a chance to do this.

What we do at The British Hyperbaric Association

Promote

To promote the understanding and safe practice of hyperbaric medicine, through:

• Annual scientific meetings
• Additional training events
• Regular peer review & appraisal
• Provision of BHA National Diving Accident Helpline for advice on emergency diving injuries.

Regulate

To self-regulate, so that member chambers work within accepted clinical and technical standards and legislation in order to ensure that they deliver hyperbaric oxygen therapy to patients in an appropriate and safe manner.

Share Knowledge

To encourage the exchange of information on treatment problems, a common database, the best use of resources available, and methods of closer unification.

Discuss

To provide a forum for discussion of hyperbaric therapy in the British Isles, with particular consideration of:

• Clinical indications
• Therapeutic standards
• Audit and research
• Funding
• Management

Advance

To encourage peer group review and dissemination of current medical advances. This and the previous objective are now reinforced by the BHA’s appraisal process.

Develop

To develop common patient pathways for already recognised and funded conditions, while working with commissioners, stakeholders in the NHS and private sectors, and above all patients to further the benefits of HBOT to as wide an audience as possible.

Membership of the BHA is open to hyperbaric facilities in the British Isles run by organisations that accept and treat emergency referrals for hyperbaric oxygen therapy.