Within a week our legal team had instructed a barrister to represent our member at the inquests. A meeting then took place in chambers to discuss the huge volume of documents disclosed by the trust about each case and to seek our member's instructions. Our member was concerned about the trust's expert reports, as it was clear that those experts had not seen all of the relevant records.

We attended the pre-inquest review on behalf of our member and successfully argued for all three inquests to be deferred to allow us time to obtain opinions on each case by an expert from our member's specialty. Meanwhile, the trust was also seeking further expert advice on the cases.

Two months later we had another meeting with our member to discuss the opinions provided by our own expert who was supportive of her management of each patient. We forwarded these reports to the other parties, including the trust and the coroner. We were then told that the two trust experts would no longer be attending the inquests.

Our legal team helped our member prepare supplementary statements for the coroner on each case, clarifying some of the points that had arisen in the expert reports.

Because we and the member were concerned that these inquests would have a high profile locally, our press office team supported and advised her regarding possible media interest. They were also primed to check for any reporting during the hearings.

Five months after the member first contacted us, the last of the three inquests concluded. We attended each hearing with her, and our expert also gave evidence. The trust was criticised, as were other parties, but there was no criticism of our member.

Inquest assistance

Inquest assistance