Recommendation BRIS-76: Universities to develop closer links for joint medical and nursing student education
From Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report, published 18 July 2001.
Recommendation
Universities should develop closer links between medical schools and schools of nursing education with a view to providing more joint education between medical and nursing students.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say partially delivered (27 February 2026)
Pre-registration training is not linked for medical and nursing students. However, much post registration training is now delivered using a multi-disciplinary approach.
An example is the Patient safety syllabus. In partnership with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, NHS England launched the NHS Patient Safety Syllabus in 2021. By June 2024, Level 1 of the training under this syllabus has been accessed over 2 million times, level 2 over 1 million, and level 1 for boards over 80,000. Work on training and education in patient safety needs to be ongoing to continue to support new staff and improve learning throughout the system. The work to develop the NHS Patient Safety Syllabus and Level 1 and 2 of the training under the syllabus was done in partnership with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Many organisations, including NHS England, have made training in level 1 of the patient safety syllabus mandatory for all staff. Work continues to develop and deliver training under the syllabus.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published by NHS England (June 2023) sets out a series of interventions to train, retain and reform the workforce, and put the NHS on a sustainable footing into the future. Backed by more than £2.4 billion in government investment it outlines how the NHS will address existing vacancies and meet the challenges of a growing and aging population by recruiting and retaining hundreds of thousands more staff over the next 15 years and reforming the way the service works. NHS England has committed to review the plan at least every two years.
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 “Partially implemented – Ongoing”. Table row: section 6.2 No. 76, PDF page 106.
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 universities were developing closer links with schools of nursing education.
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. 76, PDF page 97.
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding