Public inquiries a costly ‘knee jerk’, warns chair

The chair of a major public inquiry has admitted they are often “hugely expensive”, time-consuming, and popular with politicians who are keen to pass the buck to the next minister.

Tom Kark KC, who recently completed the Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry into serious abuse at a Belfast mental health unit, told HSJ’s Patient Safety Congress in Telford today that such probes address a clear public need, but typically do not give bereaved families closure.

He also questioned why once the chair’s job is finished, they relinquish any power over their recommendations, and how they are implemented.

The leading lawyer, who was also chief counsel to the Mid Staffordshire public inquiry and carried out a review of the Fit and Proper Person Test (FPPT), warned in addition that the government’s plan to regulate managers must not become a “weapon or a stick to punish poor performance”.

Mr Kark told the event: “When something goes wrong, particularly in the NHS… there is very often a knee-jerk reaction to set up a public inquiry. Politicians in general quite like public inquiries because generally, by the time a public inquiry is reported, that [politician] has gone, and it’s the next one’s problem.

“There is certainly a problem about the timing of public inquiries and how long they take. We [Muckamore] actually took four years, and we were regarded as being extremely rapid… and that tells you something.”

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Source: HSJ, 29 September 2026