Inquest reforms to benefit relatives

Bereaved relatives will have greater freedom to scrutinise decisions made by coroners under sweeping proposals for reform published by the Home Office.

Death certificates will be more tightly regulated to prevent a repeat of GP Harold Shipman's killing spree and the coroners' service will be radically overhauled, under recommendations from an independent panel.

But pressure groups raised concerns about plans to reduce the number of inquests being held, fearing that some "public interest" cases would not surface.

In all, 122 recommendations were made by the Independent Review of Coroner Services. They will be put before ministers to decide whether moves should be made to adopt them into law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A major trigger which led to the coroners' review group being set up two years ago was the system's failure to uncover the crimes of Shipman, who was found by judicial inquiry to have killed 215 patients over 23 years.

Under the plans, which would cause the current coroners' service budget to rise by over 10% to £79 million, complex or contentious cases could be put before specially-trained judges rather than coroners.

The report recommends that organs should never be taken from bodies "without the full and informed prior consent of the family", while the verdict of "suicide" would be re-named "death from a deliberate act of self-harm or injury" and would not necessarily require a public inquest, to spare the feelings of family members.

Tom Luce, the senior civil servant who led the review team, said many of the recommendations were designed to make the process easier for bereaved relatives. Families would be able to meet with coroners and have access to inquest reports, he said.

The Coroners' Society gave a cautious welcome to the proposals but questioned whether coroners would have the time or resources to meet with relatives of the dead.

Victor Round, secretary of society's review committee, said: "We remain genuinely concerned that without serious commitment to finding proper resources and implementing reforms soon, the changes for which members of the public and the coroners who serve them have been calling will simply not happen."

Most watched News videos