Quality of surgery was not the only problem at Bristol

At least 34 children who had major heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1988 and 1995 could have been saved if the operation had been performed elsewhere, the public inquiry into paediatric cardiac surgery at the hospital has been told.

Of the 12 paediatric cardiac surgery centres, Bristol had the highest number of these “excess” or avoidable deaths. Nearly one in three cases …