BRIS-197 Response Historic AI-assessed

Centralise rare paediatric heart condition surgery to maximum two expert-validated units

Recommendation

Surgical services for children with very rare congenital heart conditions, such as Truncus Arteriosus, or involving procedures undertaken very rarely, should only be performed in a maximum of two units, validated as such on the advice of experts. Such arrangements should be subject to periodic review.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
No specific published evidence detailing the restriction of surgical services for very rare congenital heart conditions to a maximum of two validated units, or any periodic review of such arrangements, has been identified in the provided official sources. General gov.uk searches for related terms did not yield specific policy documents. The most recent evidence would be over 20 years old, given the likely age of the inquiry.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 18 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Historic

No government response recorded.

Source
Report Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report 18 Jul 2001
Recommendation age 24.7 yrs
Last formal update No formal updates