Recommendation BRIS-146: Consolidate national clinical performance monitoring into a new CHI Office
From Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report, published 18 July 2001.
Recommendation
The monitoring of clinical performance at a national level should be brought together and co-ordinated in one body: an independent Office for Information on Healthcare Performance. This Office should be part of CHI.
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)
The Thirlwall Inquiry has noted action taken in response to this recommendation.
The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) was replaced by the Healthcare Commission in 2004. Its responsibilities were taken over by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2009. NHS England published the NHS Oversight Framework in June 2022 (replacing the NHS system oversight framework) to ensure the alignment of priorities across the NHS and with wider system partners; identify where ICBs and/or NHS providers may benefit from, or require, support; and provide an objective basis for decisions about when and how NHS England will intervene. These decisions and judgements about support and intervention take into account a range of factors including the organisational and system context and an assessment of leadership and governance.
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 Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Superseded”.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. 146, PDF page 136.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Thirlwall Inquiry legal team (27 February 2026)
The Government agreed with this recommendation.
In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said proposals for an independent Office for Information On Health Care Performance within the Commission for Health Improvement were included in the NHS and Health Care Professionals Bill, with the Office to collect, analysis and publish reports on clinical and other NHS data.
The Office for Information On Health Care Performance was created in 2003 under the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 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 dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). The review colours its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green, which it uses to mark evidence, identified by the legal team and/or DHSC and NHS England, that a recommendation has been clearly implemented. Table row: section 6.2 No. 146, PDF page 136.
Earlier findings (1)
Thirlwall Inquiry legal team (15 May 2024)
The Government agreed with this recommendation.
In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said proposals for an independent Office for Information On Health Care Performance within the Commission for Health Improvement were included in the NHS and Health Care Professionals Bill, with the Office to collect, analyse and publish reports on clinical and other NHS data.
The Office for Information On Health Care Performance was created in 2003 under the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 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 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. 146, PDF page 119.
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding