Summaries of evidence from witnesses who appear at the independent inquiry into failings at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust will be made public, the inquiry chair has said.
However, Bill Kirkup, who is leading the investigation into maternal and infant deaths at the trust, repeated that no transcripts of evidence would be released until after his final report was published.
In a HSJ interview last week, Dr Kirkup appeared to indicate evidence would remain totally secret until his final report was published. This prompted campaigner James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died at the hospital in 2008, to contact the inquiry to express concern.
Dr Kirkup subsequently told HSJ: “There will be a summary of the key evidence published as soon as we can do it after someone appears. It will not be anonymised and it will not be point by point of what was said. The full transcripts will only be published at the end of the inquiry with the final report.
“We are working hard to try and maintain the trust of the families and I want to be as transparent as we can be.”
The inquiry will investigate failures at the trust between 2004-08, as well as the role of local authorities, regulators, the Department of Health and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
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