BRIS-36 Response Historic

Establish independent, swift, and thorough complaints handling with advocacy for patients

Recommendation

Complaints should be dealt with swiftly and thoroughly, keeping the patient (and carer) informed. There should be a strong independent element, not part of the trust’s management or board, in any body considering serious complaints which require formal investigation. An independent advocacy service should be established to assist patients (and carers).

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
No formal government response has been recorded for this recommendation. No independent verification has been carried out.
Sources
Based on tracking data in the inquiry database.
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by baseline-data-v1 on 26 May 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The evidence above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Historic

No government response recorded.

Source
Inquiry Bristol Heart Inquiry
Report Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report 18 Jul 2001
View Source
Themes & Tags
Complaint record keeping failures Patient safety governance
Recommendation age 24.9 yrs
Last formal update No formal updates