Coroner's Court: Statement Writing & Giving Evidence

Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are increasingly required to provide statements for His Majesty's Coroners and also called to give oral evidence at coroner's inquests.

GMC Good Medical Practice states:

1. You must be honest and trustworthy when giving evidence to courts or tribunals. You must make sure that any evidence you give or documents you write or sign are not false or misleading.
2. You must take reasonable steps to check the information
3. You must not deliberately leave out relevant information
4. You must cooperate with formal inquiries and complaints procedures and must offer all relevant information while following the guidance in Confidentiality 

Led by Mike O'Connell, Legal Services Practitioner and Interim Senior Inquests Manager,
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, the purpose of this course is to provide delegates with the key skills and knowledge required to be a confident and capable factual witness at a coroners inquest. Topics include role of the Coroner, purpose of an inquest, providing a witness statement, preparing for the inquest, the court hearing, giving evidence and inquest conclusions.

After attending this course delegates will be able to:

• Provide a good factual witness statement
• Understand how an inquest works in practice
• Give effective evidence in coroner's court

Suitability

Healthcare professionals required to provide statements and oral evidence at coroner's inquests.