13 June 2017

Open letter to Mr Allyn Condon

Dear Allyn,

Thank you for notifying me that you intend to publish a leaflet outlining your continuing concerns about Ben's very sad death at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in April 2015, echoing your recent campaigns on social media. I am responding on behalf of the Trust.

It is a matter of great regret to us that there remain irreconcilable differences between your view of the cause of Ben's death and that of the senior clinicians within the Trust, as well as the Coroner's findings at Ben's inquest in June 2016.

We have acknowledged that, after his death, we missed a number of significant opportunities to engage proactively with you, to be more open and candid, to understand the seriousness of your allegations and to give you clear answers to a number of your questions. Despite our best intentions, we failed to get an appropriate grip of your complaint and we lost your trust as a result. I apologised to you and your wife unreservedly for these failings a year ago and I have no hesitation in repeating that apology again now.

In early 2016, we commissioned an external review into the Trust's actions, in which you were involved. We worked closely with you last year to re-examine your questions and we attempted to answer them as fully and as openly as we could.

We were very disappointed then when you told us that you no longer wanted to work with us and publicly refused our offer of a meeting. We note that you continue to reject the option of asking the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to undertake a formal, independent review of your complaint and our response, choosing instead to make public allegations which we cannot comment on because you have also brought a compensation claim against the Trust.

We have a responsibility to you and your family which we remain entirely committed to fulfil. We also have a responsibility to all the other parents whose children will need the attention of the expert clinical professionals at Bristol Children's Hospital this year, just as we have a responsibility to those highly dedicated staff. We ask you again to consider the option of an independent review of your complaint.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Woolley

Chief Executive

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