Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation by Dr Bill Kirkup, published in March 2015, what steps his Department has taken to draw up a national protocol setting out the duties of all Trusts and their staff in relation to inquests, including but not be limited to (a) the avoidance of attempts to fend off inquests, (b) a mandatory requirement not to coach staff or provide model answers, (c) the need to avoid collusion between staff on lines to take and (d) the inappropriateness of relying on coronial processes or expert opinions provided to coroners to substitute for incident investigation.

NHS Improvement, in 2016, published national compulsory guidance on the duties, and the current legislation relating to coroner inquests that National Health Service trusts, foundation trusts, and individual clinicians must follow with regards to coronial processes.

Healthcare professional regulators, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Medical Council’s guidance requires nurses, midwives and doctors to cooperate with all investigations, formal inquires and inquests.