Recommendation BRIS-95: Review incentives for senior clinicians in managerial roles, enabling return to practice
From Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report, published 18 July 2001.
Recommendation
The professional and financial incentives for senior clinicians to undertake full-time senior managerial roles should be reviewed: the aim should be to enable senior clinicians to move into a full-time managerial role, and subsequently, if they so wish, to move back into clinical practice after appropriate retraining and revalidation.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say completed (27 February 2026)
Please see response to Recommendation 46/88/91 (Professional Standards)
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 – Closed”. Table row: section 6.2 No. 95, PDF page 113.
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 revalidation together with appraisal and better systems for professional development would make it easier to move between clinical and managerial roles.
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. 95, PDF page 102.
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding