Final Report > Chapter 14: External Assessment and Monitoring of the Quality of Care in Bristol > Introduction

Introduction

1 We ask in this chapter about what mechanisms existed outside Bristol to assess and monitor the adequacy of the care provided to children under 1 undergoing open-heart surgery. We offer our conclusions as we proceed.

2 We have already set out the approach adopted by various organisations at national and local level to monitoring and assessing the quality of care generally. What we are concerned with here is the effect which the approach adopted had on the adequacy of the care which children undergoing paediatric cardiac surgery in Bristol received. Clearly, the assumption is that one method of ensuring a good quality of care is to have mechanisms or systems in place to assess and monitor care, with a view to identifying matters of concern and the need to take remedial action. We ask here whether there were any such mechanisms outside the UBH/T. If there were not, the adequacy of care was clearly put at risk.