BRIS-132

Designate CHI as sole body for validating and revalidating NHS trusts.

Bristol Heart Inquiry · Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report · Issued 18 July 2001

Government responseNot tracked (historical inquiry)

DeliveryDHSC and NHS England say not accepted (Feb 2026)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

One body should be responsible for validating and re-validating NHS trusts and primary care trusts. This body should be CHI, suitably structured so as to give it the necessary independence and authority. Other bodies (for example the NHS Litigation Authority) which are currently concerned with setting and requiring compliance with those generic standards which should fall within the authority of CHI, should carry out their role in this respect under the authority of and answerable to CHI.

Bristol Heart Inquiry, Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report · 18 Jul 2001 Source PDF →

Government response

●No formal government response recorded

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

Delivery

●DHSC and NHS England say not accepted · 27 Feb 2026

This recommendation was not accepted by the Government.

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025)

Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Not accepted”. Table row: section 6.2 No. 132, PDF page 130.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●Thirlwall Inquiry legal team · 15 May 2024

The Government rejected this recommendation.

In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said it believed that the proposed system of validation and revalidation could have a detrimental effect on the delivery of health services. The Department proposed instead to give the Commission for Health Improvement the power and responsibility to recommend special measures for trusts which failed to meet standards.

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024)

Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 6.2 No. 132, PDF page 114-115.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.