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 undertook to ensure that professional regulatory bodies investigated the conduct of registrants involved in the care of patients during the time period of that investigation.

As independent bodies, the regulators of healthcare professionals are responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of their statutory duties. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to become involved with individual fitness to practise cases.

The Morecambe Bay Investigation recommended that healthcare professionals who had provided care that fell short of the expected standards should be held to account. As a result, the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) investigated the conduct of the registrants involved. These investigations have been completed.

In May 2018, at the request of both the Department and the NMC, the Professional Standards Authority published a ‘Lessons Learned Review’ into the handling of concerns relating to the handling of the Morecambe Bay fitness to practise cases.