Recommendation BRIS-152: Review incentives for data quality; include trust performance in validation process
From Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report, published 18 July 2001.
Recommendation
The system of incentives and penalties to encourage trusts to provide complete and validated data of a high quality to the national database should be reviewed. Any new system must include reports of each trust’s performance in terms of the quality and timeliness of the submission of data. The systems within a trust for producing data of a high quality, and its performance in returning such data in a timely manner to the national database, should be taken into account in the process of validating and revalidating the trust.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say in progress (27 February 2026)
The NHS England Data Services team are responsible for ensuring the quality of the data which will be used by analysts working in the NHS. The team undertakes monthly checks on the quality of the data we hold. They routinely review and update its data quality checks and procedures to ensure they are robust and in line with any changes to national policy.
The NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service sets out approved Information Standards and Data Collections . Where applicable, provision is mandated by the NHS Standard Contract.
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. 152, PDF page 138-139.
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 it would include a data quality indicator in the annual NHS performance indicators. The Department said that the Commission for Health Improvement had been looking at the quality of data available to trusts in its reviews of clinical governance, and the NHS Information Authority had been commissioned to develop a data quality strategy to support the NHS modernisation agenda by September 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. 152, PDF page 121.
Who has spoken
- DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding