Care providers are spending more of their precious time and resources to manage inquests and attend hearings. After 36,855 inquests were recorded last year – the highest since records began – what can care providers do to proactively reduce their involvement in inquests?
Why are inquests standard practice for care providers?
Managing inquests has become business as usual for many care providers. Whilst it’s not possible to determine what proportion of reported inquests involve care providers, there has been an increase in public confidence to challenge the establishment if they believe that loved ones have faced sub-standard care. The ageing population means more people are also dying in care or living longer with complex care needs, so more deaths are being referred to the coroner for investigation as a result.
The purpose of inquests is to determine the identity of the deceased as well as when, where and how they died. This is a fact-finding investigation but there are potential risks for care providers should the coroner have concerns over the actions taken or not taken. The coroner might express this in one of three ways:
- Add a ‘rider of neglect’ to outcomes where they feel a gross failure to provide medical attention has contributed to the death.
- Include critical comments in a factual description of how the deceased came to die.
- Issue a public report to direct an organisation to take further action to address concerns.
How should care providers approach inquests?
Responding to a coroner’s inquest requires more work than might be expected, so care providers should take a proactive and preventative approach to handling them. Seeking legal advice from the outset of the inquest process and making early preparations is essential. Care providers should thoroughly prepare all evidence and documentation as soon as possible. Whilst some inquests will only require written evidence, in other cases, the coroner might call for witnesses to give evidence in court. Providing written statements supported by comprehensive and detailed evidence could help the coroner reach a decision and avoid the need for a witness to attend court for further questioning.
Where witnesses are called to provide evidence, care providers must ensure all care staff, managers and leaders are informed of what to expect at the hearing. Being briefed on the possible outcomes can help them to stay focused on providing clear, factual information in a stressful situation. In turn, this has the potential to improve outcomes if the witness can concur that corrective action has already been taken to prevent similar problems from recurring.
How can care providers mitigate the risk of further investigations?
In cases where the coroner feels further action is required to prevent deaths in future, they have a duty to issue a report to the organisation. This report will often be shared with relevant regulators and care providers could face investigation from the Care Quality Commission, and potential criminal or regulatory sanctions. It’s important for care providers to mitigate these outcomes where possible – for example, by training staff to report and escalate incidents in good time, or by reviewing internal policies and training initiatives.
As a ground rule, all staff should also be trained to seek legal advice when responding to the coroner’s requests. Responding to a coroner’s investigation in a timely, well-prepared and professional manner, with the support of a crisis response plan, will decrease the chance of a case proceeding to a hearing too.
Key takeaways
It can be easy to become overly defensive when someone dies in care in unnatural or unexplained circumstances, but this can make matters worse. Instead, care providers should take the proactive and preventive route to managing inquests, taking early corrective action and being well-prepared to handle court hearings.
Here are some key considerations to aid this approach:
- Train staff to report and escalate any incidents in good time. Can current training models be improved?
- Thoroughly prepare comprehensive evidence and documentation, as soon as possible, ahead of the inquest.
- Seek legal guidance from the outset of the inquest process and implement a crisis response plan. This will ensure staff are supported should they be called to court.
- Demonstrate immediate action to prevent further deaths should the coroner issue a report. Can existing policies be adapted to support this?
For more information
For more information, contact Tim Coolican or Freya Cassia.