BRIS-196

Mandate paediatric environment, trained staff, and PICU access for children's interventional procedures

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

The national standards should stipulate that children with CHD who undergo any form of interventional procedure must be cared for in a paediatric environment. This means that all healthcare professionals who care for these children must be trained and qualified in paediatric care. It also means that children must be cared for in a setting with facilities and equipment designed for children. There must also be access on the same site as where any surgery is performed to a paediatric intensive care unit, supported by trained intensivists.

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

As the Thirlwall Inquiry has noted, the Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Services Review Group contained standards to be followed.

These issues are now addressed by the Paediatric Congenital Heart Disease Specification published in May 2016. The Specification sets out requirements for surgical centres in relation to the provision of trained staff, as well as specific training requirements for some roles. The Specification also set outs that all children and young people must be seen and cared for in an age-appropriate environment, taking into account the particular needs of adolescents and those of children and young people with any learning or physical disability.

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 “Implemented – Ongoing”. Table row: section 6.2 No. 196, PDF page 158-159.

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 Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Services Review Group published its report in December 2003. The report contained a number of standards, including that “children should be cared for in an environment that recognises their special needs”.

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. 196, PDF page 135-136.

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.