This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Executive response to Bristol report
17/01/2002
Important lessons for the NHS in Scotland have been, and will continue to be learned from events surrounding children's heart surgery in Bristol, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said today.
The Executive joined the Department of Health in responding formally to the public inquiry into heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary where as many as 35 children were said to have died after receiving "less than adequate care".
The inquiry took as its starting point the quality of child heart surgery at the hospital but went wider than that, looking at issues such as safety of care, patient involvement, management and regulation of health professionals in the NHS, and clinical standards.
Mr Chisholm said:
"The Bristol inquiry looks at a serious subject and raises important issues about the care of seriously ill children. Although there has never been any suggestion of similar problems to those uncovered at Bristol occurring in a Scottish hospital, we cannot and will not be complacent.
"Patient safety and the quality of clinical care are central to maintaining public confidence in the NHS. We accept the underlying principles of the Bristol report, and will work with the Royal Colleges in Scotland and those responsible for the education and training of healthcare professionals to apply them here.
"We share the aim of developing greater scrutiny of NHS performance and increased information for the public on the quality of care delivered in our hospitals. Great strides have already been made in Scotland,but we will go further, including public access to robust and reliable information on surgeon's outcomes. To that end, we have already embarked on preliminary discussions with the British Medical Association.
"While the NHS on both sides of the border operates to the same fundamental principles, the situation in Scotland is already different in many essential ways.
"We have, for example, already reconfigured paediatric cardiac surgery, which since July 2000 has been concentrated in a single location as a national service, so as to maintain quality of care by concentrating expertise, exactly in the way advocated by the Bristol report.
"The Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (CSBS) and clinical audits aim to ensure consistently high standards of clinical care in NHS Scotland. Many of the Bristol reccomendations are already anticipated by the way CSBS operates. The NHS and CSBS are working together to raise clinical standards, while core standards for NHS Scotland as a whole are being developed.
"Additionally, the Executive recently started the process of consulting on the creation of a new special health board to manage and integrate the work of all our national clinical effectiveness organisations.
"We are absolutely committed to making sure that the lessons of Bristol can and will be learned in Scotland. By working together with health professionals and patients, we are determined that we work to prevent such a tragedy ever happening again."
ACTION ON BRISTOL RECOMMENDATIONS IN SCOTLAND
Children's Services
Central to the inquiry's findings was the lack of priority given to children's services. In Scotland, this area has already been identified as a national priority. A Scottish Cabinet Committee chaired by the First Minister has been set up to deal with children's issue across the whole of the Executive.
Our National Health: plan for action, plan for changesignalled that the health of children would be a main priority. It recognised that seriously ill children requiring hospital treatment have different needs to adults and the Executive is committed to ensuring that appropriate care is provided.
The Child Health Support Group, set up in June 2000 by Susan Deacon to improve child health services and the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, will liase with England's Director of Children's Healthcare. This will help ensure that good practice is shared between England and Scotland as new standards are developed. Key to this are better channels of information between the patient and the NHS.
Patient Information
It is one of NHS Scotland's core principles that patients should receive the information and support they need to take control of their health and make decisions on their healthcare.
The Scottish Executive's Health Department's framework for change Patient Focus and Public Involvement seeks to build upon this. Local healthcare systems will be encouraged to listen to and act upon the wishes of individuals and local communities about the design and delivery of services.
Stronger Rights And Support For Parents
Following on from this and revelations on organ retention thrown up by the Bristol inquiry, the independent Review Group on Retention of Organs to investigate post-mortem practice was set up in Scotland. Among recommendations made are changes to the law to ensure that organs and tissue would not in future, be retained without parental permission.
This also gives Scotland the opportunity to develop bold measures to ensure families get adequate support from the NHS in the tragic event that they lose a child. Bereavement counselling and support services in NHS Scotland are one area that is being improved.