Recommendation BRIS-101: Re-form local ethics committees to assess new invasive clinical procedures
From Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report, published 18 July 2001.
Recommendation
Local research ethics committees should be re-formed as necessary so that they are capable of considering applications to undertake new and hitherto untried invasive clinical procedures.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England state no delivery position (27 February 2026)
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's (NICE) interventional procedures programme assesses the efficacy and safety of interventional procedures used for treatment or diagnosis to determine whether they work well enough and are safe enough for use in the NHS.
The NHS HRA provides policies and standards in respect of research in the health sector, including best practice guidance and model agreements. HRA uses UK Clinical Research Collaborations (UKCRC) model agreements which are legally compliant.
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 Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Superseded”. Table row: section 6.2 No. 101, PDF page 116.
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 in principle with this recommendation.
In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said that new interventional procedures would need to be overseen and scrutinised by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence from April 2002 and local research ethics committees would need to consider any studies of new procedures as advised by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. The Department said guidance on the new arrangements would specify local systems for managing new interventional procedures and would be issued in 2002.
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. 101, PDF page 105.
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding