Shake up review of coroners system published

The way in which coroners work is to be shaken up following the publication of a Home Office report today.

Among the recommendations in the wide-ranging review, 'Fundamental Review of Death Certification and Coroner Services', produced by the Independent Review of Coroner Services, are calls for fewer coroner's inquests and for those not raising issues of genuine public interest to be conducted in private, "away from publicity, reducing the distress for bereaved families".

The report follows an extensive period of research and investigation during which the review team, led by Tom Luce, consulted widely with not only coroners and other professionals within the system, but the families and the bereaved who use it.

Other measures proposed include calls for: post mortems conducted with far more consultation and involvement of the families; the abolition of the existing separate procedures for authorising cremation; and a single nationally managed service overseen by a chief coroner and a coronial council with local authorities to lose their role.

Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said: "I am very grateful to Tom Luce and his team for all the hard work behind this challenging and comprehensive report. This is an important and sensitive area which effects us all. We have a real opportunity now to reform, but we must get it right.

"The coroner system has long laboured under outdated legal provisions which were never designed to meet the demands of today's society.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 the 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. The inquiry is being led by Dame Janet Smith and its next report is due later in the summer.

(GMcG)