Inquiring into inquiries

doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7263.715

BMJ 2000;321:715-716 ( 23 September )

Editorials

Inquiring into inquiries

Before starting an inquiry be sure that it is needed and will be run properly

Education and debate p 752

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Inquiries into crimes and misdemeanours are becoming a way of life in Britain's NHS, but a paper we publish today raises seriousdoubts about the competence and conclusions of one of them (p752).¹ The time has come to be clear about what inquiries arefor, how they should be run, when they should be started, whoshould be appointed to them, how their quality should be controlled,and how they should be accountable. Otherwise, the politicians'need to be seen to be doing something when a crisis occurs mayaggravate rather than alleviate problems and may squanderresources.

Today's paper by Edmund Hey and Iain Chalmers offers a critique on part of the Griffiths inquiry. ¹ ² This inquiry wasset up by the NHS executive in February 1999 after several parentsalleged that their premature babies had been entered into trialsof continuous negative extrathoracic pressure (CNEP) without theirconsent. . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

Hey, E. (2006). The 1996 Continuous Negative Extrathoracic Pressure (CNEP) trial: were parents' allegations of research fraud fraudulent?. Pediatrics 117: 2244-2246 [Full text]
Passmore, K, Leung, W-C (2002). Defensive practice among psychiatrists: a questionnaire survey. Postgrad. Med. J. 78: 671-673 [Abstract] [Full text]
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