Annex A > Chapter 27 - Concerns 1992 > Concerns > Visit by the Supra Regional Services Advisory Group (SRSAG) in February 1992
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Visit by the Supra Regional Services Advisory Group (SRSAG) in February 1992
17 As indicated in Chapter 7 - Supra Regional Services, at this time the BRI was a centre for Neonatal and Infant Cardiac Surgery (NICS) under the supra regional system.
18 Mr Stephen Owen, the Administrative Secretary to the SRSAG, visited Bristol on 6 February 1992. He recalled receiving some data on mortality during his visit, which he said he passed to Dr Halliday, Medical Secretary, SRSAG. A note of the meeting sets out the data. [19] Dr Halliday was asked about these figures:
`Q. ... yesterday we were told by Mr Owen that he visited Bristol in February 1992. When he visited Bristol then, he was passed mortality figures which did not mean [a] lot to him, so he passed them on to you.
`First of all, do you recollect that?
`A. Yes. I mean, I was getting data fairly regularly, yes.
`Q. The second question: do you recollect what, if anything, you did with those figures?
`A. The difficulty is, as I have said, having figures in isolation, without the machinery to analyse it, is of no particular value. It would have been strange for me to be given - I mean, I was not given any figures with the suggestion that there was a problem here. I was given figures as I was on many visits. Sometimes my administrative colleagues would visit the units with the object of dealing with financial matters, and would be handed data. They would come back to me, or Dr Prophet, [20] and would hand us that data.
`If, however, we were given the data and told that there was a problem with that data, that would be a different matter.
`I have no recollection of any data being presented to me from Bristol with the caveat that there was a problem.
`If there had been a problem, I would have clearly gone to the College for advice, but to be given data without the suggestion that there was a problem, would not have given me the opportunity to raise this with the College. I mean, it would be pointless me giving them the data from one year and saying, "What do you think of this?"' [21]
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Footnotes
[19] DOH 0004 0045; note of meeting, 6 February 1992
[20] Senior Medical Officer, Department of Health