Recommendation BRIS-150: Support Hospital Episode Statistics as a reliable national resource for monitoring outcomes
From Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report, published 18 July 2001.
Recommendation
The Hospital Episode Statistics database should be supported as a major national resource which can be used reliably, with care, to undertake the monitoring of a range of healthcare outcomes.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say in progress (27 February 2026)
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) - NHS England Digital contain details about admissions, outpatient appointments and historical accident and emergency attendances at NHS hospitals in England. HES provides data for the purpose of healthcare analysis to the NHS, government and others including:
• national bodies and regulators, such as the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, Public Health England, NHS Improvement and the CQC
• Integrated Care Boards (ICBs)
• provider organisations
• government departments
• researchers and commercial healthcare bodies
• National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)
• patients, service users and carers
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. 150, PDF page 138.
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 its investment included work on a new contract and tendering the service for supplying Hospital Episode Statistics data, which would deliver improvements in service and create the opportunity to extend the database.
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. 150, PDF page 121.
Who has spoken
- DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding