Covid bereaved families and Grenfell survivors are demanding greater enforcement of public inquiry recommendations to stop preventable deaths.
Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on public inquiries in recent years and the campaigners are calling for a national oversight mechanism to tackle a “shocking accountability gap” and ensure that when recommendations are made after deaths, “they are not lost, ignored or left to gather dust”.
The Grenfell Tower inquiry uncovered how recommendations from an inquest into six high-rise deaths at Lakanal House in south London in 2009 that could have prevented some of the causes of the 2017 catastrophe were not followed through on by the government.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chair of the Grenfell inquiry, recommended that all disabled people living in high-rise blocks should have personal evacuation plans. Fifteen of the tower’s 37 disabled residents died in the fire. But in 2022, the Home Office rejected the idea.
Now there are fears that recommendations from the Covid inquiry, which on Tuesday will hear from the former health secretary Matt Hancock, may be similarly sidelined.
The new “no more deaths” campaign to stop tragedies being repeated is being coordinated by the charity Inquest and is backed by Grenfell United, Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, James Jones, who chaired the Hillsborough panel, and the family of Matthew Caseby, who was killed on a railway track after neglect at a Priory hospital.
Caseby’s father, Richard Caseby, said that after his son’s death there was “a devastating inquest conclusion and a prevention of future deaths report” but then “we hit a cliff-edge”.
“For example, the coroner recommended the Department of Health and Social Care establish national guidelines for fences and security in acute mental health units. Has anything been done? Despite repeated requests, I have no idea,” he said. “When failures have been publicly exposed, how long do the bereaved have to bang on doors to make change happen? That’s why an oversight body is needed. To make sure that the glib response ‘lessons will be learned’ actually translates into effective action.”
Deborah Coles, the director of Inquest, said: “Inquiries, inquests and reviews can be vital tools for scrutinising deaths and recommending changes. The current lack of transparency and oversight on recommendations undermines their preventative potential.”
Inquest said a new independent public body should be made responsible for monitoring recommendations arising from inquests, inquiries, official reviews and investigations into state-related deaths. It would collate recommendations in a national database, analyse responses from public bodies and escalate concerns when progress stalls.
Natasha Elcock, the chair of Grenfell United, who escaped the 2017 fire, said: “We have seen first-hand how recommendations from Grenfell have failed to be implemented. Six years on, we now know that every single death at Grenfell could and should have been avoided.
“We’ve worked tirelessly to ensure our loved ones are remembered not for the way we were treated before the fire, but for the legacy that is created post the fire. But so little has changed. Bereaved and survivors should not have to fight to hold government to account to ensure learning and change and that history is not repeated.”
Lobby Akinnola, who lost his father to Covid and is part of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said: “The Covid-19 inquiry will only be as valuable as the policy changes it will bring about.”
The Cabinet Office has been approached for comment.
