Recommendation BRIS-59: Make communication skills education essential for all healthcare professionals
From Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report, published 18 July 2001.
Recommendation
Education in communication skills must be an essential part of the education of all healthcare professionals. Communication skills include the ability to engage with patients on an emotional level, to listen, to assess how much information a patient wants to know, and to convey information with clarity and sympathy.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say in progress (27 February 2026)
The Thirlwall Inquiry has noted action taken in response to this recommendation.
Please see response to Recommendations 1 (Patient-centred care), 2 (Shared decision-making); 3 (team communications): 5 (personalised information); 19 (team communications) and 58 (professional competence).
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. 59, PDF page 99.
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 agreed with this recommendation. In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said that education in communication skills was a core feature of professional training, and that it had begun a major new communications skills initiative to encompass all NHS Staff.
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 colours its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green, which it uses to mark evidence, identified by the legal team, that a recommendation has been clearly implemented. Table row: section 6.2 No. 59, PDF page 91-92.
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding