CDCA is a partnership of patients,
doctors and other health professionals,
who seek to promote patient safety through
clinical accountability.

CDCA is a national charity set up as a result of the constructive dialogue encountered with members of the health profession, leading up to, and during the time of the BRI Public Inquiry. The aim of the CDCA is to repair trust between patients, the medical profession and the NHS, with a view to making both users and providers of the NHS accountable.

At present, the CDCA, together with the Children's Heart Federation, the British Paediatric Cardiac Association, and the British Paediatric Cardiac Nurses Association have published A Guide to Care Standards for paediatric cardiac services. This guide is a proposed minimum standard that a patient and their family should expect from the cardiac services team. Much of the guidance is already in place in all paediatric cardiac units and hopefully reflects the practical, physical and emotional journey which children with congenital heart disease and their families undertake.