News releases
April 2001
Contents
Previous Releases:
- Feb 2001
- Sept 2000
- June 2000
- May 2000
- April 2000
- March 2000
- February 2000
- January 2000
- News Releases - 1999
- News Releases - 1998
Progress of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry
The current position regarding the Inquiry’s progress is as follows:
- Work is progressing well towards the completion of the Inquiry’s Final Report (and supporting Annexes). It is not quite ready yet, but we do expect to be able to pass it to the Secretary of State during the month of May.
- One of the two Annexes, comprising expert papers and reports, already in the public domain, and which will be published with the Final Report, can already be made available to the Secretary of State.
- The Inquiry reaffirms that neither drafts nor copies of the Final Report or any part of it have been made available to anyone.
- The Inquiry will continue to issue information regarding the progress of its work
- Once the Inquiry’s work is complete, it will then be for the Secretary of State to publish the report through a statement to Parliament.
ENDS
m.f.
Notes to Editors
Terms of Reference
The Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry is an independent Public Inquiry. The former Secretary of State for Health, Frank Dobson, appointed Professor Ian Kennedy, Professor of Health Law, Ethics and Policy at the University College, London, to conduct an Inquiry under Section 84 of the National Health Service Act 1977.
The Inquiry’s Terms of Reference are:
"To inquire into the management of the care of children receiving complex cardiac surgical services at the Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1984 and 1995 and relevant related issues; to make findings as to the adequacy of the services provided; to establish what action was taken both within and outside the hospital to deal with concerns raised about the surgery and to identify any failure to take appropriate action promptly; to reach conclusions from these events and to make recommendations which could help to secure high quality care across the NHS."
The Secretary of State said that the Inquiry would cover all aspects of what went wrong at Bristol - identifying any professional, management and organisational failures and making recommendations to safeguard patients and their families in future.
The Report
The structure of the report will be as follows:
The Report itself will have two sections: The Bristol Story, and The Future. It will be published in printed format and on CD.
The Report will be accompanied by two annexes, both on CD: Annex A will be an account of the evidence relating to paediatric cardiac services in Bristol presented to the Inquiry during its first Phase; Annex B will include expert reports on statistics; the clinical case note review and other expert commentaries.
The Report and its annexes will also be published on the Inquiry’s website.
The process of producing the Report itself is a considerable logistical exercise. Annex A, for example, is an account of the evidence about Bristol presented to the Inquiry during its first phase; it alone will run to some 3,000 pages of hard copy.
For further information please contact Becky Jarvis, Head of Communications, Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry, Tel (0117) 938 8716 or Mobile: (0777 575 4204) or Bleep 0208 345 6789 ask for INQ 102.
April 2 2001
BRI 01-10