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Mammoth task

18/ 7/2002

PROBING the hundreds of deaths has proved an unprecedented task for Dame Janet Smith's inquiry team.

The final audit - which arrived on July 19, 2002 - was delayed by around four months due to the sheer size of their analysis.

Over 500 deaths were actually considered and families awaiting verdicts commented the purpose of the review was accuracy rather than speed.

Almost immediately, the inquiry began to look at individual patient deaths before it closed for summer recess on July 30. In public they had heard oral evidence from 40 witnesses about 15 deaths and 326 connected statements and documents had been brought forward.

It had also by now received evidence relating to 56 cases in which no oral evidence would be heard.

These included the 15 cases in which Shipman was convicted of murder and the 25 inquests in which a verdict of unlawful killing was recorded.

Summer recess saw work continue behind the scenes as it prepared evidence on about 380 cases. The inquiry has also decided by now to consider a sizeable number of deaths from statements and records only.

Dame Janet Smith said it would not be sensible to hear oral evidence in all cases because of the time and public money it would take.

She revealed the work of the inquiry team over August and September would include taking statements from over 1,000 witnesses, looking at medical documents including cremation and cause of death certificates, and finalising the search of up to 40,000 coroner's files.

They also analysed police statements, commissioning experts to report on specific points of concern as well as scanning about 50,000 pages into the inquiry document management system.

Phase one then resumed on October 8 and continued until December 15, but only after the restart had followed the inquiry team resorting to an unusual tactic to help them in their investigations.