Inquests

An inquest into a death can be incredibly damaging to your business. The purpose of an inquest into a death is to establish facts. It is not to apportion blame and the conclusion should not use language that suggests civil or criminal liability.

However, there are conclusions that can be reached, and language used that may have a negative impact on the home or service and therefore it is important that you understand how you might be involved in the process and how you might manage it. Often health and social care providers do not realise they can participate in the proceedings, if they ask. This allows a provider to access documentation that will be used at the coroner’s inquest, including the post-mortem.

Information that emerges during a coroner’s inquest may also be used to support a civil or criminal claim against the business too. Any conclusions of neglect can cause serious reputational harm to a health and social care business, especially when the media take an interest. Coroners have a duty to send reports to people they think may be able to prevent deaths arising from similar circumstances in the future and a response must be provided and these reports and responses can be published.

The impact of an inquest into a death on providers is compounded by Staff and Managers who may face significant stress in the run-up to the coroner’s inquest, a period that is usually several months after death, and often longer.

Securing ‘interested person’ status;
Obtaining disclosure;
Advising on the evidence;
Taking witness statements;
Making legal representations to the Coroner;
Advising on responses to reports from the Coroner;
Advising on the merits of any further contemplated proceedings;
In conjunction with a PR firm where necessary, helping to manage media interest.

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Case Study

We acted for a national care home provider after a service user suffered a fall and subsequently died. As the death was not expected, it was referred to the Coroner for investigation. We assisted our Client by obtaining Interested Person status for them which allowed them to have access to documentation, including the post mortem. It also allowed the Home to ask witnesses questions at the subsequent hearing.

We helped our Client’s staff to put together witness statements about the service user’s care and what and happened on the night of their death. This helped to provide additional detail and background that the care records did not, in isolation, provide. In addition, we helped the Home manager put together a witness statement which set out what the Home had done following the death of the service user to improve systems at the Home.

At the inquest, we instructed a barrister who robustly but sensitively questioned witnesses to help ensure all relevant information was conveyed to the Coroner. The barrister also made submissions on the conclusion that was open to the Coroner to find.

The Coroner reached a narrative conclusion noting that the service user died following the fall, but that the death was accidental. No Prevention of Future Deaths report was issued as the Coroner was satisfied that the Home had taken steps to minimise such a fall happening again, after they had heard from the Home manager.

We liaised with a public relations firm to ensure that press coverage was kept to a minimum.

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