tent>
Coroner service to undergo reform
A wide-ranging review of coroners and the way they work is calling for fundamental changes to increase public confidence in the system.
The review team consulted widely with not only coroners and other professionals within the system, but the families and the bereaved who use it. The exercise covered the death certification and coroner system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Proposals include:
- a more consistent and transparent approach to inquests: fewer of them, and those not raising issues of genuine public interest to be conducted in private, away from publicity, reducing the distress for bereaved families;
- a new statutory Family Charter and a more flexible death investigation system, with more informative outcomes and rights for the bereaved to request a review of certain decisions made by the coroner;
- fewer post mortems, conducted in specific circumstances with more consultation and involvement of the families;
- abolition of the existing separate procedures for authorising cremation; and
- moving the coroner system to the Lord Chancellor’s Department and death certification to the Department of Health
Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said:
“The coroner system has long laboured under outdated legal provisions which were never designed to meet the demands of today’s society. The shortcomings within the current system have become increasingly evident and it is essential that we build an effective, supportive and transparent system that commands public confidence.”
The Government will publish a response to this report once Ministers have considered its 122 recommendations alongside the second report of the Shipman Inquiry, due later in the summer.
The second report of the Shipman Inquiry will consider how the death certification system might be amended as one part of the reforms needed to minimise the chance of another professional operating unnoticed, as Harold Shipman did.
delicious
digg
facebook
