Require all surgeons operating on children to obtain paediatric qualification and revalidation
Bristol Heart Inquiry · Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report · Issued 18 July 2001
Government responseNot tracked (historical inquiry)
DeliveryDHSC and NHS England say in progress (Feb 2026)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
All surgeons who operate on children, including those who also operate on adults, must undergo training in the care of children and obtain a recognised professional qualification in the care of children. As matter of priority, the GMC, the body responsible for the revalidation of doctors, should agree with the Royal College of Surgeons of England the appropriate number and range of procedures which surgeons who operate on children must undertake in order to retain their validation. This will have consequences for the way in which general surgery for children is organised.
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 in progress · 27 Feb 2026
Medical education and training
The GMC took over responsibility for regulating postgraduate training in 2010. Since the GMC took on responsibility for regulating postgraduate medical education they have set standards for postgraduate curricula and assessment Excellence by design to make training more flexible for doctors, and more responsive to patient and health service needs. The GMC approval processes require organisations to show how their curriculum will meet the standards and requirements set out in this document.
Revalidation
All licenced doctors have been required to demonstrate they maintain their competence in their current scope of practice since 2013. This involves participating in annual appraisal at which they discuss their full scope of practice with a trained appraiser, and bring evidence of the CPD they have undertaken since their last appraisal, along with details of any incidents or complaints they have been involved in. Surgeons are expected to reference data on surgical outcomes in their appraisals. Additionally, all doctors need to provide evidence of participating in quality assurance activity, plus formal feedback exercises with patients and colleagues. The Royal College of Surgeons has guidance on evidence to support appraisal.
The GMC will receive a periodic recommendation from a Responsible Officer – usually the most senior doctor at the healthcare provider – who will access a range of information to support recommendations about individual doctors gained from their local governance systems. The GMC expects paediatric surgeons to be fully engaged in these processes.
The Royal College of Surgeons also published guidance on standards for children's surgery.
What other bodies have found
●Thirlwall Inquiry legal team · 15 May 2024
The Government agreed with this recommendation.
In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said it would work with the professional organisations to ensure all surgeons who operated on children were appropriately trained and undertook an appropriate number of procedures.
Revalidation requirements for doctors were not introduced by the General Medical Council until December 2012.
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.