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Inquests: all change! New Coroners
Rules come into force on 17 July 2008
4 July 2008
The Coroners Amendment Rules 2008 have been introduced before
Parliament by the Justice Minister, Bridget Prentice. They will
become law on 17 July 2008. The new rules will require a coroner to
report the death of any child to the Local Safeguarding Children
Board (LSCB). They will also require NHS Trusts to respond to a
Rule 43 letter within 56 days.
The new rules are being introduced before the Coroners and Death
Certification Bill in response to views expressed by bereaved
families, who wish for something positive to come out of the
inquest of a loved one.
Child protection
The Amendment Rules will introduce a new rule, Rule 57A, which
will require coroners to notify LSCBs of the death of any child
where a post mortem or inquest is required. Coroners will be
allowed to supply information (such as post mortem reports and
documents given in inquests) to LSCBs. This will enable LSCBs to
meet their statutory obligations, including their responsibility to
conduct child death reviews.
New Rule 43 powers
Currently, Rule 43 allows coroners to report to an individual or
body who may have the power to prevent a similar death occurring in
the future. From 17 July 2008 onwards, any recipient of a Rule 43
letter will be obliged to respond to that letter.
Briefly, Rule 43 will be amended in the following way:
- Organisations will now be under a new statutory duty to respond
to reports received from coroners within 56 days
- Coroners may extend the 56 day limit
- a. “Interested persons” which will include bereaved
families
- b. The Lord Chancellor
- Coroners may also send the report and responses to any person
who he believes may find it “useful or of interest”
- Reports and responses will be centrally collated for the first
time so that any trends can be identified and monitored. Lessons
learned can be shared widely
- The Lord Chancellor may publish the Rule 43 report and any
responses
- Trusts can ask the coroner not to publish all or part of the
report. Any request to restrict publishing must be made prior to
the report being submitted to the coroner
The rules will place a new duty on healthcare organisations to
respond to a Rule 43 letter within eight weeks. The response must
explain what action is being taken or is proposed “whether in
response to the report or otherwise” or, if appropriate, why no
action is proposed. In other words, the Regulations seem to
envisage a detailed response which may need to go beyond the
immediate query being raised. The response will also be circulated
beyond the coroner’s office and Trusts should be mindful that any
response may become public.
What will happen if Trusts fail to comply with the Rules? The
Rules do not set out any specific sanction. However, this does
raise the question of whether Trusts would face a claim in
negligence if they fail to implement previously promised changes
and a further death then occurs.
It is vital that Trusts have systems in place to ensure that
prompt and accurate responses are provided which are sensitive to
the response’s potential wider audience. If a Trust has any
concerns about the content of its response it should consult its
legal advisors.
The Health Law Team regularly advises and assists its client
with inquests. For more information, please contact Simon Tait or
Barbara Anthony.
The content of this bulletin is provided for
the purposes of general interest and information. It contains only
brief summaries of aspects of the subject matter and does not
provide comprehensive statements of the law. It does not constitute
legal advice and does not provide a substitute for it.