The inquiry into the murders carried out by Lucy Letby will be made statutory, with judges given the power to compel witnesses, the government has announced.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay confirmed the move following calls from lawyers of bereaved families to put the inquiry on a statutory footing so there was “nowhere to hide”.
There were fears that a non-statutory inquiry would be “inadequate”, would lack “teeth” and would not have “the ability to make people answer [the] questions” that family members had.
The government ordered an independent inquiry earlier this month after Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others while working as a neonatal nurse.
She was sentenced to 14 whole-life orders and will never leave prison.
Ministers had previously said that “after careful consideration”, a non-statutory inquiry into the circumstances at the Countess of Chester Hospital “was found to be the most appropriate option”.
Announcing the change to a statutory inquiry, Mr Barclay told reporters: “These are truly appalling crimes and my thoughts remain very much with the families.
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“We wanted to discuss the terms of the inquiry with the families, that’s what I have done, and reflected on the comments that they have made.
“There’s different ways of having inquiries which bring advantages and disadvantages, so having discussed that with the families, it’s clear their preference is for a statutory inquiry and that is what the government will now deliver on.”
Mr Barclay confirmed the inquiry would be judge-led and that he hoped to announce who the judge would be “very shortly”.
Among the names who had called for a statutory inquiry was the health service ombudsman Rob Behrens, who said concerns raised about Letby were not acted on because of a “defensive culture” in the NHS which puts “the reputation of the trust above patient safety”.
Mr Behrens told Sky News he was not convinced a report into the failings at the Countess of Chester Hospital will prevent a repeat of yet another maternity scandal in the future, unless swift action is taken to enforce systemic change.
“I think that just commissioning reports and hoping they will be implemented is not the answer,” he said.
“I’m not interested in blame. You know, the courts are about blame. They’ve done that in the Letby case.
“What I want to see happen is that there is learning from the fact that here and elsewhere, the board failed to intervene when they had the opportunity to do so, that senior managers had the mindset that the way to deal with this was to say no, this is not an issue.”
The health secretary’s announcement comes after the government confirmed a new law will be introduced in England and Wales that will force criminals to attend court while their sentences are read out or face longer behind bars if they refuse to sit in the dock.
Under the plans, judges will be given new powers to make the order, who will decide whether they want to issue it.
The change will also allow custody officers to use “reasonable force” to make offenders appear, “meaning every effort will be made for victims and their families to see justice delivered”.
Prison staff and custody officers will be left to decide whether the use of force is reasonable and proportionate in each case.
However, the timetable for the legislation to be brought in is not yet clear – with Mr Sunak only saying it would happen in the new session of parliament, starting in the autumn.
