The news, reported in the Independent, angered doctors’ leaders, who called for the medical examiner investigations to be made public.

The local examiners are to conduct reviews of the deaths of more than 620 NHS staff during the pandemic. They will be reporting their findings to the national medical examiner Dr Alan Fletcher.

The examiners may also refer cases to local coroners or to the Health and Safety Executive – and will consult families of the deceased. But the families may not receive the findings.

The Department for Health and Social Care said the process aimed to “support local learning.” The paper quotes it as saying the findings would not be made public – although it has not yet decided finally what to do with them.

A spokesperson said: “A summary of every case is received by the national medical examiner, who reviews findings and ensures employers are contacted if deemed necessary. We are monitoring progress of the medical examiners’ scrutiny, and consideration will be given to whether further steps should be taken in due course.”

Doctors’ Association chair Dr Rinesh Parmar said: “Following a petition with over 120,000 signatures we launched a legal challenge with the Good Law Project to urge the government to launch a rapid public inquiry into healthcare worker deaths and guarantee that investigations are opened in every case. Following that pressure the government has sanctioned medical examiner investigations, but we are learning that their findings may be hidden or swept under a rug.

“The families of our colleagues who have died deserve to know what happened, the circumstances surrounding the death and whether a lack of adequate PPE led to the deaths of loved ones.”

He added: “Learning needs to be widely shared in an NHS where we learn not blame, where we improve and prevent future tragedies and safeguard staff and patients alike. This is simply not possible if the findings are buried rather than published openly.”

The Independent has reported that an investigation began last month, covering around 620 deaths of nurses, doctors and care home staff since the beginning of March.

The review could trigger a number of investigations by hospitals, the Health and Safety Executive and coroners into whether staff received sufficient protective equipment. Early into the pandemic there were numerous reports of hospitals running out of protective masks and clothing.

In April, health secretary Matt Hancock announced that families of health and care workers who died from the virus as a result of their duties would receive a death in service benefit of £60,000.

Medical examiners will independently review all relevant deaths to verify the correct cause and identify any concerns around treatment. They will be asked to indicate whether the worker was tested for Covid-19 and the result was recorded, and whether there is reason to believe the infection was acquired in the course employment.

If so, hospitals have a duty to report this to the Health and Safety Executive (according to Riddor (reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations)). The HSE could then investigate. Certain cases may be passed on to a coroner.

Medical examiners are employed by local trusts and are accountable to a national medical examiner. They were introduced after the public inquiry into serial killer GP Harold Shipman.

An NHS England spokesperson told The Independent: “NHS and other care staff have gone to extraordinary lengths to treat people during the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s absolutely right that we seek to understand the circumstances of every death, which is why all NHS employers will work with the Health and Safety Executive, as well as local and regional medical examiners, to ensure any lessons are learned to protect frontline staff.”

Doctors’ Association UK, which represents doctors, has campaigned for a public inquiry into the deaths of NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic. It welcomed the reviews into the deaths but said they could go further.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, its chair, said: “It’s a positive step that the government is recognising these deaths need investigation, but we would ask that they take the next step with a full coroner’s investigation into all health worker deaths.

“Coroners are best placed to carry out independent investigations. They have the experience and they are not directly employed by hospital trusts so there is less of a chance of them being persuaded to make certain decisions or recommendations.”

The Doctors’ Association (DAUK) with support from the Good Law Project and charity Hourglass are calling for a judicial review into the decision by the government not to hold a public inquiry into the planning, procurement, and provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health and social care staff.

With healthcare being left “wearing visors made by teenagers on 3D printers” and “care workers being told to share the same mask”, the group has raised concerns that the inadequacy of PPE may have contributed wholly or in part to the tragic deaths of health and social care workers.

At least 245 health and social care workers are known to have died from COVID-19 – with some figures suggesting this is dramatically more.

Despite a petition receiving over 120,000 signatures supporting a public inquiry, there has been no formal response from the government.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, Chair of the DAUK said: “With over 300 healthcare worker deaths due to Covid-19, the UK is an international outlier – only Italy has similar death rates amongst its healthcare staff. Yet the government have told us that looking into the issue now will distract officials, thus risk causing further deaths. This is a nonsense. It is our members and colleagues who are working non-stop to save lives – indeed, the only ones who have stopped are those who are shielding, sick or have died.

“There is simply no excuse for the government to bury its head in the sand and pretend that learning in the form of a public inquiry is not required. Now is precisely the time to hold a rapid, focused inquiry into the provision of PPE to healthcare workers. There may be a second wave, and it may be soon.

Before adding; “We know there has been an inadequate PPE supply of out of date and perishing stock; we know our standards have fallen short of WHO and European CDC guidance. It would be unconscionable to ask our NHS and care sector to face that second wave without learning lessons from the first. The pride of politicians and officials cannot take precedence over the lives and safety of our healthcare workers.”

Read the full article.

On 8 June, the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), in conjunction with the Good Law Project, a not-for-profit membership organisation, and elder abuse charity Hourglass, instructed solicitors to start the legal challenge.

They believe that, under the Human Rights Act 1998 and article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the government has a legal obligation to launch an independent public inquiry into whether failures to provide adequate PPE may have caused or contributed to the deaths or serious illness of patients and health and social care workers.

A pre-action letter, sent by the group’s lawyers to the government legal department on 9 May, set out the rationale behind calling for an independent review. It asked ministers to appoint an independent investigator, and take steps to preserve evidence, identify witnesses, and commit to involving relatives of health and care workers who have died.

In response to the letter, however, the government declined to conduct such a review at this time.

DAUK chair Rinesh Parmar said that this decision was nonsense. “Now is precisely the time to hold a rapid, focused inquiry into the provision of PPE to healthcare workers. There may be a second wave, and it may be soon.” He added, “It’s our members and colleagues who are working non-stop to save lives—indeed, the only ones who have stopped are those who are shielding, sick, or have died.”

Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said it was important that a review was held soon “because we need to learn lessons before a second or third wave.”

Richard Robinson, chief executive of Hourglass, echoed this sentiment, saying, “As lockdown restrictions ease, it’s vital that lessons are learnt from our response to the pandemic before we encounter a second wave.

“There can be no excuse for a repeat of the carnage we’ve seen in our care homes over the past few months,” Robinson added. “The government must act now and commit to an urgent public inquiry before more lives are lost.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said that they were unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.

• The DAUK and the Good Law Project are crowdfunding their legal actions through Crowdjustice. You find out more about their campaign here: www.crowdjustice.com/case/too-many-nhs-deaths

Read the full article here.

They argue health secretary Matt Hancock’s refusal to commit to an enhanced investigation into whether failings in procurement, stockpiling, distribution and provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) may have contributed to the deaths or serious illnesses of NHS and care home staff and patients from Covid-19 is unlawful.

The group, which is crowdfunding its case, says an inquiry which complies with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to life, should be automatic and is required in circumstances where those deaths and illnesses have been “caused or contributed to” by the state.

They also say such an investigation must take place “as soon as reasonably practicable” because there is an “urgent need to gather evidence and learn lessons” now, ahead of a possible second or third spike of infection.

In documents filed with the court, Paul Bowen QC, representing the group, said: “In the particular context of this case, there is an urgent need to address the underlying reasons for the apparent failures to procure, stockpile, distribute and supply adequate PPE (both before and during the pandemic) that have led to the current shortage.“

That urgency arises, in part, from the need to learn lessons from any previous failures, in light of the possibility that a second or third wave of the pandemic may follow.”

The group claims in the documents that there have been at least 181 deaths of NHS staff and 131 deaths of social care workers in England, as of May 20.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, chairman of the Doctors’ Association UK, said: “We have seen over the last few weeks that the UK has one of the highest death rates from Covid-19 in the world.“Health and social care workers rose to the challenge, returned to the frontline from retirement and pulled out all the stops to save lives.

“Some had no PPE, others had inadequate, out of date perishing supplies.

“Alongside caring for patients, we’ve cared for colleagues and also faced the sad and grim reality of losing colleagues, who themselves were caring for patients.

“As we recover from the first wave of Covid-19 there is a real and credible possibility that we will face a second wave in the coming months or into the winter.

“Now is the time to learn key lessons to enable us to avoid future pitfalls, protect the frontline and ultimately save lives.

“Our calls for a public inquiry and our petition of nearly 120,000 signatures have all fallen on deaf ears as the Government buries its head in the sand and steadfastly refuses to commit to the learning required to prevent further tragedies.”

The claim lodged by the Doctors’ Association UK, the charity Hourglass, and the legal pressure group Good Law Project argues that the government’s failure to procure and distribute sufficient PPE, which may have contributed to the deaths or serious illnesses of NHS and care home staff and patients, was unlawful.

Rinesh Parmar, chairman of the Doctors’ Association UK, said: “We have seen over the last few weeks that the UK has one of the highest death rates from Covid-19 in the world. Health and social care workers rose to the challenge, returned to the front line from retirement and pulled out all the stops to save lives. Some had no PPE, others had inadequate, out-of-date perishing supplies. Alongside caring for patients, we’ve cared for colleagues and also faced the sad and grim reality of losing colleagues, who themselves were caring for patients.

“As we recover from the first wave of Covid-19 there is a real and credible possibility that we will face a second wave in the coming months or into the winter. Now is the time to learn key lessons to enable us to avoid future pitfalls, protect the front line and ultimately save lives.”

Read the full article here.

The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), in conjunction with The Good Law Project and safer ageing charity Hourglass, has instructed solicitors Bindmans LLP and barrister Paul Bowen QC of Brick Court Chambers to issue judicial review proceedings.

They said this comes after the Government refused to launch an urgent inquiry into the ‘inadequate supply’ of protective equipment and whether it ’caused or contributed’ to the deaths of over 300 healthcare workers.

The legal challenge ‘sets out the Department of Health’s legal obligation under the Human Rights Act 1998 and Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to commence an immediate and independent investigation into whether failures to provide adequate PPE may have caused or contributed to the deaths or serious illness from Covid-19 of workers in the health and social care sectors, as well as patients’, said DAUK.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, chair of the DAUK, said: ‘With over 300 healthcare worker deaths due to Covid-19, the UK is an international outlier – only Italy has similar death rates amongst its healthcare staff. Yet the government have told us that looking into the issue now will distract officials, thus risk causing further deaths.

‘This is a nonsense. It is our members and colleagues who are working non-stop to save lives – indeed, the only ones who have stopped are those who are shielding, sick or have died.’

‘Now is precisely the time to hold a rapid, focused inquiry into the provision of PPE to healthcare workers. There may be a second wave, and it may be soon.’

Dr Parmar, a specialty registrar in anaesthetics in the West Midlands, said this comes as ‘there has been an inadequate supply of out of date and perishing stock’ and that UK standards ‘have fallen short of WHO and European CDC guidance’.

Read the full article in Pulse here

Support our work? Become a member today.

The crowdfunded legal challenge is being brought by the Doctors’ Association UK, Hourglass Abuse, and the Good Law Project.

Their legal bid claims that the Department of Health’s has legal obligation to launch an investigation into whether failures to provide adequate PPE may have caused or contributed to the deaths or serious illness from COVID-19 of workers in the health and social care sectors, as well as patients.

They launched their legal action after government lawyers said an inquiry was unnecessary.

Ministers have said setting up the investigation would distract the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and other key bodies involved in arranging the supply of PPE or guidance about what kit should be used.

The group claim that there have been at least 180 deaths of NHS staff and 131 deaths of social care workers in England.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, Chair of the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) said: “We have seen over the last few weeks that the UK has one of the highest death rates from COVID-19 in the world.

“Health and social care workers rose to the challenge, returned to the frontline from retirement and pulled out all the stops to save lives. Some had no personal protective equipment (PPE), others had inadequate, out of date perishing supplies.

“Alongside caring for patients, we’ve cared for colleagues and also faced the sad and grim reality of losing colleagues, who themselves were caring for patients.

“Now is the time to learn key lessons to enable us to avoid future pitfalls, protect the frontline and ultimately save lives. Our calls for a public inquiry and our petition of nearly 120,000 signatures have all fallen on deaf ears as the government buries its head in the sand and steadfastly refuses to commit to the learning required to prevent further tragedies.”

Read the full article here.

The legal challenge is being brought by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) and the Good Law Project. Nearly 200 NHS and care workers have died after becoming infected with the coronavirus.

In a pre-action legal letter to the Department of Health and Social Care, the doctors say they support the government’s efforts to mitigate the crisis caused by the pandemic but are “deeply concerned” about the “failure to procure and supply adequate PPE”.

DAUK said the deaths of healthcare workers were a “tragedy. We had a pandemic stockpile of PPE lacking essential items like full gowns and eye protection; other equipment was out of date. There has been recurrent and systemic failure of the PPE supply chain, leaving staff in some instances with makeshift or no PPE.”

The barrister Jolyon Maugham, of the Good Law Project, which aims to use the law to improve society, said: “We must never be forced to ask NHS and care home workers to risk their lives again. We must learn the lessons from recent history. And we must learn them quickly, before the second and third waves of the pandemic.”

Read more about our legal challenge here

Donate to the crowdfund

Almost 100,000 angry people have signed an open letter to Boris Johnson demanding a public inquiry into NHS staff deaths and appalling shortages of personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 crisis.

At least 150 health and care workers have now died fighting the pandemic – and campaigners and charities want the Prime Minister to make a firm commitment for a probe once the battle is won.

The open letter, compiled by The Doctors’ Association UK, comes after polling showed one in five frontline medics have been given unusable PPE. And it follows the latest PPE disaster for the Government as surgical gowns in a promised shipment of 400,000 pieces of kit from Turkey failed safety tests.

The letter, signed by 96,000 as of tonight, states:

“Doctors are dying. Nurses are dying. This is unforgivable. We need a commitment to this now, with a full judge-led inquiry once the Covid-19 crisis is over.” “It is also crucial coroners open inquests into each healthcare worker death in addition to a public inquiry. This will ensure evidence is preserved and each death is properly investigated.”

And polling by DAUK raised fears faulty face masks and surgical gowns are still being delivered to hospitals.

Chair Dr Rinesh Parmar said: “It is vitally important these challenges are seen as an opportunity to learn. “We need to ensure no healthcare worker is put in harm’s way in this manner again and the families get answers. [We have] been lobbying to ensure coroner’s inquests are commenced in every healthcare worker death. This will facilitate the preservation of evidence for a full public inquiry or future legal action.”

As well as being criticised for neglecting stockpiles, the Government was slammed for being slow to use – or even ignoring – firms that offered to source or make PPE.