What is the point of inquiries? (BMJ, 27 August 2024)

Summary

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has just published its Module 1 report two years after the inquiry began.1 At least another eight modules are still to be published. The inquiry has cost £94 million so far2 and is projected to cost over £200 million in total.3 The first report was forensic, pinpointing major flaws in the UK’s pandemic preparedness and putting forward 10 recommendations. But the recommendations from inquiries are only useful in so far as they are acted on, and mostly they are not.

The UK needs a stronger, more efficient system for ensuring that recommendations from inquiries are implemented to avoid repeated failures, writes Christina Pagel, Clinical Operational Research Unit at the University College London, in this BMJ opinion piece.

Further reading on the hub:

• Patient Safety Learning - Mind the implementation gap: The persistence of avoidable harm in the NHS