News Releases
August 1999
Contents
- 18th Aug 1999 - Inquiry Web Site attracts Worldwide Interest
- 6th Aug 1999 - Cases to be Reviewed by Inquiry
Previous Releases:
|
||
|
|
||
|
News ReleasesAugust 1999Contents
Previous Releases:
|
|
Inquiry website attracts worldwide interestThe number of people visiting the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry internet website has passed the quarter of a million mark. It has now recorded 275,000 hits from internet users in more than 50 countries from all over the world. The site was launched in October last year and was soon attracting more than one thousand visits a week. Interest continued to grow and an average of around 2,000 people a day have been visiting the site since the Inquiry’s oral hearings began in March this year. The site carries full transcripts of each day’s hearing and statements from witnesses are also available. These allow people to follow the Inquiry proceedings if they are unable to travel to Bristol. The background to the Inquiry, information about the Chairman and the Panel members and details about how to contact the Inquiry team are also available. For those wishing to travel to the oral hearings in Bristol, the website has a map showing the location of the Inquiry offices in Temple Way. For further information please contact Richard Green, Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry, tel. 0117 938 8709. Notes for editors: the Inquiry is currently in summer recess. Oral hearings begin again on Monday, September 6. The Inquiry website address is: www.bristol-inquiry.org.uk/ August 18, 1999 BRI 99-30 Cases to be reviewed by InquiryThe Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry team has announced today its proposals to review a sample of cases taken from over 1,800 children and babies who received either open or closed heart surgery over a 12-year period. It is the first time that a sample of cases, drawn from virtually all the paediatric cardiac activity at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Bristol Children’s Hospital between 1984 and 1995, has been so thoroughly reviewed. The exercise will be carried out by teams from the Inquiry’s Expert Group, 35 independent experts with a wide range of clinical, academic and managerial experience. The clinicians on the Inquiry’s Expert Group have been formed into review teams which consist of five members:
The sample, initially, of 80 case notes will be an important contribution to the Inquiry’s understanding of the adequacy of the services at the BRI and Children’s Hospital. The Inquiry is making extensive efforts to contact all families in the sample to ask for their views and comments and has said that no personally identifiable information about any individual will be made public without a family’s prior permission. Further review work may be considered if necessary. Review teams will look at the adequacy of key aspects of pre-operative, surgical and post-operative care, as well as the adequacy of care overall. The report forms from the exercise will form the basis of a single review summary which will be presented to the Inquiry panel during the autumn hearings. Every single case of child heart surgery during the period 1984-1995 will be taken into consideration for the sample. Selection will be at random from the total of more than 1,800 cases. However, every single child’s case will be taken into account in the overall analysis of activity and performance. This review exercise will supplement a wide range of sources for assessing the adequacy of the services provided. The Inquiry continues to take written and oral evidence on individual children’s cases – nearly 100 family statements have been received and another 150 or more are expected. Written and oral evidence has been given on how the service in Bristol was set up, organised and managed and of the non-clinical documents submitted to the Inquiry, 34,000 pages of documents have now been assessed as relevant to the Inquiry’s work. The Inquiry will also be taking evidence from its Expert Group, examining six key data sources and commissioning external review work. The Inquiry team has today published for comment a document setting out an explanation of its work to review the clinical case notes. The document is available on the Inquiry Internet website (Inquiry Procedures) and copies can be requested from the Bristol office. ENDS |